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COLUMBUS 



OR 



A Hero of the New World 



AN HISTORICAL PLAY 



). y 



D. S. PRESTON 




NEW YORK AND LONDON 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

®^c ^nitherbockev 'f rrss 
1887 



V 



^<\^ 



COJ'VRIGHT BV 

D. S. PRESTON 



^ x-V^ Pressor 



G. P. Putnam's Sokj 
New York 



FOR DEDICATION— AT ELMWOOD. 



It was a day when one had joyed 

To mount and far with Launfal roam, 

To snatch deep blisses, unalloyed, 

From Dreamland — or from Poet's home. 

The sun, in autumn's broadest glow, 

Transfigured all the tranquil scene, 

From sun to daisied turf below, 

And phantom-haunted porch between. 

Through the sweet ocean of the air 

The boughs dropped many a yellowing fleet 

In rivalry of plume, as fair, 

Chirped the gold robins at their feet. 

I paced beneath the elms. They sung 
To memories of an earlier year. 
Of hearts that throbbed, of fancies young, 
And of a Voice — so deep, so clear. 
Its accents winged our feet to scale 
That Tuscan ladder of the stars, 
Attuned each purgatorial vale, 
And rifled Hades of its jars. 

For Elmwood's shade, for Dante's cheer, 
Take the frail offering that I bring — 



iv Dedication. 

No darlings of the autumn year, 

The palest pansies of the spring. 

Yet where the pansy once hath grown 

May fancy's passion-flower be sought, 

And asphodels may bloom anon 

That breathe the Alpine air of Thought. 



PREFACE. 



Next, perhaps, in a cherished pursuit, to the attainment 
of success may be counted the circumstance that we have 
been counted worthy of it. It was the opinion of one 
whose fame will be lastingly connected with whatever is 
loftiest in Scenic Art, that this play, upon the stage, might 
have. enjoyed its passing triumph. 

Whether or not too favorable, there lay in this award 
an appreciation which might have moved the envy of tired 
hands, and which must have been emphatically grateful 
to a writer at the outset of his career. 

The eventuality of such an appeal being, through cir- 
cumstances beyond his control, precluded, the author 
commits himself to the indulgence of the reading public. 
He would solicit their frendly interest in the fortunes of 
a personage among the most illustrious in history, whose 
name is enrolled not only as a Hero of the New World, 
but among those rarest of all heroes, whose laurels have 
been won in fields aloof from the stain and dust of carnage. 

He has, as but now intimated, to solicit, both from 
press and readers, that measure of forbearance which 
may be conceded to the unpractised. 

So far as regards the character of the chief agent of his 
drama, he would say that, while he has endeavored to 
endow him with fair honesty of purpose, it would have 



vi Preface. 

been, perhaps, neither in accordance with history, nature,- 
nor the legitimate demands of Art, to have delineated an 
ideal without defect. 

If, further, a word may be permitted him with regard 
to the construction of his plot, which turns, in some sort, 
upon the miraculous, he would premise that he allows to 
the fancy of the reader, that which he claims also for 
himself, the widest degree of liberty in the interpretation 
of such events, 

Innsbruck, the Tyrol, 

May, 1887. 



PERSONS REPRESENTED. 



Ferdinand the Catholic, King of Spain. 
Mendoza, Grand Cardinal of Spain. 
Archbishop of Granada. 
FoNSECA, Bishop of Badajos. 
Prior of St. Mary Rabida. 
Bernardo Boyle, a Benedictine Friar. 
Two Monks of Holy Land. 

Duke of Medina Cell 

Enriquez, Lord High Admiral. 

Francesco de Bobadilla, Commander of Calatrava. 

Pedro de Marguerite, Knight of Campostello. 

Alonzo de Ojeda. 

Alonzo de Villejo, Commanding under Bobadilla. 

Cristoval Columbus, Mariner. 

Diego Columbus, the Younger, his Son. 

Bartholomew Columbus, I -n ^i ^ r^ • ^ i 

' I Brothers to Cristoval. 
Diego Columbus, the Elder. \ 

Martin Alonzo Pinzon, ) 

Francesco Martin Pinzon, r Mariners. 
Vincento Yanez Pinzon. ) 



viii Persons Represented, 

Hernando de Guevara, \ 

Pedro Requelm, '- Colonists. 

Francesco Roldan. ) 

Miguel Ballester, ) 

RODRIGO Perez. ( Commanding under Columbus. 

Esptnoza, a Cook. 

A Gaoler. A Trumpeter. A Crier. 

A Notary. An Usher. 

Isabella, Queen of Spain. 

Marchioness of Moya, her Friend. 

Donna Juanna della Torre, Governess to Prince Juan. 

Pepita, a Domestic. 



Anacaona, an Indian Princess, ) 

- Mutes 
HiGUENAMO TA, her Daughter. \ 

The Genius of Columbia, Appearing to Columbus. 



Nobles, Churchmen, Monks. 

Masters of Vessels, Seamen, Colonists. 

Alguazils. 

Ladies Attending on the Queen. 

The Scene of the First, Third, and Fifth Acts is at 
Granada ; of the Second, at Sea ; of the Fourth, the 
Tropical Regions of the New World. 



COLUMBUS; 



OR, 



A HERO OF THE NEW WORLD. 



ACT I. 

GRANADA. 



A Hall of State in the Alhambra. The decorations of 
the interior are those of the Hall of Ajnbassadors restored. 
The bottom of the apartment is closed by an arcade^ beyond 
which are seen, in restoration, the Court, Garden, and 
Fountain of the Lions. 

Scene I. — Under a canopy, Ferdinand and Isabella, 
seated ; around them the prelates, nobles, and ladies 
of the court. Next the King, the Graitd Cardinal Men- 
DOZA ; below him, the Archbishop of Granada ; 
Fonseca, Bishop of Badajos j the Prior of St. Mary 
Rabida ; churchmen and 7nonks. Next the Queen, the 
Marchioness of Moya ; below, the Duke of Medina 
Celi ; the Lord High Admiral, Enriquez ; Ojeda, 
Marguerite, nobles, cavaliers. 

Ferdina7id [to the assembly, with a glance of admiration 
around hint] — My lords of Spain, when I survey 
to-day 



2 Coltimhis. 

The splendors of this costly citadel, 

This red Alhambra, like the Afrite feigned 

By those that reared it, outwardly uncouth, 

But full, within, of winning wizardry — 

When o'er this sumptuous scene I glance entranced, 

And think how late our lodging was the field. 

Our couch the saddle, our unceasing toil 

The ever-gathering onset, headlong caught 

Upon the hot wave of the red assault 

That burst to cries of Allah and of Christ, 

I bend in thanksgivings the knee to Him 

That sendeth victory. My lords, no more 

The shrill war-trumpet cases ye in steel ; 

What valor can achieve, your hands have won : 

Henceforth, in Spain, the foremost man be he 

Who best shall serve the state in peaceful arts. 

Prior — My liege — 

Ferdinand — Sir Prior of La Rabida. 

Ffior — I have the livelier joy to hear your grace, 
Because of one to whom such speech brings cheer : 
A patient mariner attends without, 
Who long hath sought your gracious audience. 

Ferdinand — His name ? 

Prior — Columbus — Cristoval Columbus. 

Fonseca — My lord the king — 

Ferdinand — Lord Bishop of Badajos. 

Fo7iseca — 'T is ill disputing with the fool and knave 
More perilous, my liege, are heretics. 
Columbus is a visionary man, 
And when I say no worse, I praise him most. 
He lives beyond the stars, and in those regions 
Hath caught a dream of worlds he will discover. 



Columbus. 

I pray your grace to have no speech with him. 

Archbishop — My liege — 

Ferdinand — My lord Archbishop. 

Archbishop — Pass the man ; 
His reputation flags through Christendom. 
He is of Genoa. She, that gave him birth, 
Was sluggish of assistance, though he sought it. 
Rich Venice barred her treasuries to him ; 
To close the unwelcome round, from Portugal, 
Where he was longest, he comes empty to us ; 
And wits, in Portugal, sleep not, my liege. 

Medina Celi — Your grace — 

Ferdinand — Lord duke. 

Medina Celi — Columbus was with me. 
And, as he fired with vastness of his theme, 
Brought me to wonder that a man so rude — 
For he hath little courtly in his make — 
Could bind together such amazing ends. 
I put him from me, feeling — though I stand. 
Through favor of your highness, not the least — 
His was a project solely for the throne. 

Enriquez — My king — 

Ferdinand — Lord admiral. 

Fnriquez — We miss our jester ; 
Our bauble, now, is but the rosary, 
Our dunce-cap that which binds with mimic flames 
The brow of heretics. I scent diversion. 
Oh, have the moon-struck mariner admitted ! 

Prior — It is no jester ; pardon, my dear king — 
A sadder man I seldom looked upon. 
'T was evening as the sun was nigh to setting, 
He stayed himself beside our cloister gate. 



4 Columbtis, 

A lad, his son, with him, on whom he leaned. 
'T was then I saw how far from joy he lived. 
'T is of suspense, I deem, his humor comes ; 
For he had followed long from tower to tower. 
From field to stricken field, your armaments, 
And found no hearing. Therefore I rejoice 
To hear your grace, and beg he get his due. 

Mendoza — Sire — 

Ferdina7id — Lord cardinal. 

Mendoza — I know him somewhat. 
This seafarer. There is no ground to scoff him ; 
Though he be visionary, which I vouch not, 
Yet doth such genius mingle in his temper 
That, following his discourse, your grace will marvel. 

Isabella — Dear husband, stands it within woman's 
nature, 
To hear a man so oppositely judged 
By the best qualified without a throb 
Of curious wonder ? Words are idle painters ; 
Let his own countenance attest him best. 

Ferdinand \to the usher\ — Columbus may have entrance 
to the court. 

SceneII. — The same. Columbus. He salutes the assembly 
with a low I'evei'ence, bends his knee before the throne^ 
and stands^ f<^cing the sovereigns. 

Ferdinand — You are called Cristoval Columbus ? 

Columbus — Ay. 

Ferdinand — We hear you are a follower of traffic. 

Cohwibus — I followed traffic — followed camps, my liege. 
From every field wherein your highness triumphed, 
The shoes I tread upon are stained with dust. 



Cokimbus. 5 

Ferdinand — You speak Castilian, but are Genoese. 

Columbus — It may have been. Oh, sire ! this hour of 
grace, 
So long the ceaseless burden of my prayer, 
The solemn joy of this great colloquy, 
From which so much shall flow to all our world. 
Bids me forget that I am not of Spain. 

Ferdinand — *T is promised lavishly. But that apart. 
What within modest reason seek you, sir ? 

Columbus — Your royal countenance chiefly ; and that 
secured, 
Such means as with economy may serve 
To fit an armament. Indeed, nought further ; 
Ships, crews, what else may lack, I answer for. 

Ferdinand — Anon. The goal, sir, of your enterprise ? 

Columbus — The west. 

Ferdinand — The west ? Why that, I judge, were water. 

Columbus — Oh, sire, I boast not eloquence a whit ; 
The brine of the rude sea cumbers my tongue. 
But give me leave somewhat to shew my thinking. 
And, heaven assisting, you shall find it plain. 
Westward is land, as good as God hath made. 

Ferdinand — Speak : if you prove your marvel, it is well ; 
And though you stumble, none shall say you nay. 

Columbus — Yet pardon, sire, if the theme be subtile 
Beyond the bounds of tangible assurance. 

Ferdinajid [indicating the assembly\ — Take heart, Col- 
umbus, for how deep soe'er 
You dive in subtile reasonings, these will follow. 

Columbus [Ife changes J>osition, so as to command, together 
with his royal auditors, the greater portion of the 
assembly, and contifiues, addressing hiinself to the high 



6 Columbus. 

functionaries?^ — My lords, most learned prelates, 
reverend fathers, 

Enlighten me — for I am, to your light, 

As is the dusk of evening unto noon ; 

Yet heed me well, and you, my sovereigns, heed. 

The genius of Ptolmseus hath set forth. 

Which we accept without a difference. 

How, in their several distances, revolve 

The fixed and planet stars about our earth ; 

Which earth we hold to be of spheric form. 

As proof of which, if ye direct the eye 

Upon the moon when laboring in eclipse, 

Ye see the shadow of a dusky bow ; 

Or if, at sea, poised on a dancing mast. 

Ye note, far off, approaching caravels. 

Against the sky, ye see their waving pennons 

Ere yet the ocean hath disclosed their bulk. 

\^The opinion of the assembly appears divided. The 
churchmen, generally, express objection. 

I see some faces shadowed by dissent ; 

Yet favor me, and with more wrapt attention. 

If this fair earth be such as I have argued. 

And from Granada's gates two pilgrims turn. 

One toward the rising sun, one toward the setting, 

All torrents overspanned, all oceans past. 

At the remote and dim antipodes, 

O'ercome by the strange marvel of their doom. 

They meet and fall about each other's necks. 
Fonseca \with i7npatience\ — My liege — 
Ferdinand — Refrain, my lord ; speak on, Columbus. 
Cohimbiis — The abstruse exordium of my theme is 
spoken ; 



Columbus. 7 

The next is palpable. Of the two ways, 
One east, one west, which I distinguished to ye, 
The former hath been tried. My lords, 't is known. 
Merchants of Venice, England's daring tradesmen. 
Meek missionaries carrying Christ about, 
Wandered so far, and brought the tale with them. 
My lords, they told of weary land-marches ; 
They told of regions glorious as the sun ; 
Realms, nations, isles, of which they found no end. 
But heard of ampler wonders yet beyond. 

Marchioness [with animation^ to Isabella] — Dear queen, 

I know such writers ; it is true. 
Columbus — Now, to be brief, what they by land 

achieved. 
And yet not wholly, since they touched not all, 
Would I by water, and by westward steering. 
This is the purpose I am burdened with ; 
So slight a treasure, if your grace can spare not 
An idle hulk from any arsenal. 

Ferdinand [to the assembly] — My lords and prelates, 

let us have your voice. 
Fonseca {taking the ivord with eagerness] — My lord the 

king, these are sea-sophistries. 
The holy Psalmist tells us, whom we hold 
As deep in truth as any mariner, 
Jehovah hangs his heavens about the earth, 
Even as a curtain. So the earth is flat, 
And this man tells us it is spherical. 
I think there needs no further refutation. 

Archbishop — He spoke of poles, and of antipodes, 
Of men embracing with their heads hung downward. 
Some credulous souls might find a truth in this ; 



8 Cohmtbus. 

But you must know the fathers first in faith 
Make very light of such hypotheses. 

Enriquez — I know the sea, and well the sea knows me ; 
It is a lamb betwixt two ravening wolves. 
Northward, ray lords, is ice and boreal cold ; 
Southward, a fire ; and that which lies beyond — 
Never will eye of mariner discern. 
I wonder at this shipman's seamanship. 

Ferdinand — If you have yet to speak, be brief, Co- 
lumbus ; 
The state's wise counsellors are cold to flatter. 

Columbtts — Your grace, a little word suffer me yet. 
\To Enriquez\ My lord high admiral, what I know of 

seas 
I tore in battle from the stormiest. 
You speak of cold, of heat ; my lords, I sailed. 
Younger by some score years than now, to Thule ; 
We found, with ice, a practicable tide. 
What we, beset with obstacles, achieved, 
A late invention of the Portuguese, 
To know our bearings better, hath made light. 
[ To the chiirchineii\ Grave prelates of the Church : the 

holy fathers, 
The hoary inspiration of old writ. 
Who more than he before you holds to heart ? 
They are the stars, and by their light I steer — 
Yet, bear with me, on depths of duty solely. 

Mendoza — Have you weighed well, Columbus, those 
strange tales 
You spoke of, of returning travellers ? 

Colu7nbus — Oh, they were many, fair lord cardinal. 
Had they not tallied they were nought together ; 



Columbus. 9 

But most harmonious is their testimony, 

As some full organ, clear in all its keys, 

And to what anthem do they pitch their notes ! 

[To the king, with rising animation'] My lord the king, 

the years that weigh me down 
Drop from my shoulders, warm youth glows in me 
When I recall to mind the realms they picture. 
All Andalusia, yonder, were an isle, 
And of the narrowest ; Castile, France with Europe, 
There would not fill the boundary of a kingdom. 
And there are drugs of healing, flowering shrubs — 
Myrrh, cassia, nara, mirabolan, all gums. 
That the woods teem, the jungles reek with them. 
And there is gold along the water-sheds, 
And to the bowels of the midmost hills. 
And gems that woo the sun to lighten them. 

Ferdinand — Speakest thou of gold, Columbus ? That 
were well. 
A monarch without wealth wins slight respect ; 
And, look, this was the very thought in me. 

Columbus — Oh, see it so, my king, and you are wise. 
Ferdinand \ivith deliberation, to the functionaries] — My 
lords, methinks a vessel were not much — 
An idle vessel to bring back this gold. 

Fonseca [^glajiciitg at Columbus, and with marked em- 
phasis] — Rather with discipline to weed the mind, 
To pluck from thence empty hallucinations 
Not running with true doctrine, yea, with heed 
To curb the soul from infidelity, — 
These are the bases both of Church and State ; 
For faith, my lords, not gold, doth lend endurance. 
Archbishop — For Aragon and Castile, my lord king 



lo Columbus. 

Diversion from abroad were chief of evils. 

Enriqiiez — Columbus, play your juggleries no more. 
YTo the king'] My liege, I find no earnest in this 
man 
Ferdinand \to the court] — Ye that are silent here, are 

ye agreed ? 
Nobles — We are agreed. 
Churchmen — Agreed as had we spoken. 
Ferdinand — Columbus, you have leave ; you may with- 
draw. 
Colu?nbus — A sadder man even than before I came — 
And I was sad before, my liege, I leave you. 

[Ife turns to go. 
Marchioness Moya [to the queen^ luith lively sympathy] — 
Oh ! speak to him, dear lady, speak to him. 

Isabella — Columbus, stay a little. Go not yet. 
Tell me, Columbus, were you always sailor ? 

Columbus — Madam, from my youth up, as are my 

kindred. 
Isabella — Whence have you these strange visionings — 
these dreams. 
Which, save a mermaid taught him, as I think not, 
Drew never seaman from the unfruitful wave. 

Colwnbus — My lady and sweet queen, for many years, 
Pending my voyages to this port and that, 
I frequented the schools of Portugal. 
There, with Prince Henry, generous as the sun, 
Were divers men, most catholic of science. 
To whom, if it be any thing, I owe 
The little I am worth beyond my craft. 

Isabella — This weighty theme of yours — how reached 
you to it ? 



Columbus. 



1 1 



Through lips of men ? through books ? through your own 
musing ? 

Columbus — Through all, sweet lady ; for when I had 
spoken 
With friends in life, much questioning, hearing much, 
I turned to the hushed lips of centuries — 
Colleagued with many a dusty traveller, 
He and his tomes alike the worm's dull portion. 
Then, in the quick alembic that here lodges, 
I knit these severed members to one frame. 
And breathed into the image -oh ! not I, 
A mightier breathed — the breath of holy life. 

Isabella [with interest] — It is amazing, excellent Col- 
umbus, 
I say amazing that, save 't were yourself, 
A seafarer should puff away his calling, 
His home's sole maintenance, for a phantasy. 
Why hQwt you to the task, and not another ? 

Colwnbics — Dear lady, though your lips may rail at me, 
I will hide nothing, for your heart betrays you. 

\He pauses a moment, as in thought, and then continues. 
— As, full of that which shall not go from me 
Till I win light from immortality, 
I pondered, deep at night, upon my couch, 
Sleeplessly turning, and debating still 
If I indeed were chosen, or another. 
To undertake this quest, and found no issue 
Until to prayer my passion shaped itself — 
A harmony, orchestral, undivined. 
Stole through my pleading, winning evermore 
From silvery treble to deep, golden bass. 
Then the obscurity about my chamber 



1 2 Cohimbtis. 

Grew to a hazy light — this still to brighter. 
Upon a throne — I will not speak its wonder, 
Sate, as I judge, an ardor altogether. 
His hair, a flame, burned, parted, to his beard — 
A parted flame ; his face a nested glow 
Wherein the heavenly dove had niched herself. 
I would not gauge the mystery of his limbs 
Save as organic fires. From throat to foot, 
Rayed, sacerdotal wound, a blanche of white 
Such as no fuller on earth hath whitened aught. 
I breathed His name and my soul knelt to Him. 

Isabella [moved] — You slept in prayer, Columbus, and 
your dream 
Took, though within you, form of outward seeing. 

Columbus — So, madam, I had doubted ; but hear yet. 
While I was palpitant lest the least should vanish, 
With smile which was unto angelic ones 
As theirs to ours, flowed from the ardent lips, 
Madam, a voice like wine of eucharist 
Over the bent brim of the altar-cup: — 
" Rise ; question the dread volume of My word, 
For I will testify in what thou seekest." 
A little moment — and the moon shone in. 
Silvering the sainted record where it rested. 
With heart aflame, with pulses all athrob, 
I rose, and to the sacred volume staggered. 
Open, wide open, lay the oracle, 
As had some angel rout displayed it there ; — 
As heaven's light, flashed, zigzag from the script, 
That the brain giddied, though the soul was marble — 
The covenant of Jehovah : — " I will give 
The heathen for thine heritage, and what lands 



Cohimbiis. 1 3 

Are uttermost, to be for thy possession." 

My queen, I kissed the happy page and closed it ; 

My pulse was stilled — the calling was to me. 

Isabella — Columbus, I am shaken above measure. 
The heathen, ay, the heathen — that were well ; 
Oh, sweetly welcome, might the heathen come, 
At last, through any calling, unto life ! 
Yet, when you spake of gold, now, to the king — 

Columbus [with fervor] — Mistake me not. The mon- 
arch at your side 
Hath need of substance, as each king has need. 
Oh, never, madam, if I read aright 
Your gentler heart as throbs my sterner one — 
In dreams of wealth it centred happiness. 
See, arms have crowned you ; you have shaken off 
From the last skirts of Spain the unbaptized ; 
You are called happy, are called Catholic. 
Yon cross, my queen, that lights Granada's towers 
But rays abroad its golden benison 
Where flamed the earlier, the supplanted emblem. 
Across the ocean, in the lands I seek — 
If God's appointment war not with your own, 
Are those who never felt the hallowing drops, 
Knew never that fair symbol — never Christ. 
Oh, madam, what were it to ransom such ? 
Isabella [with agitatio?{\ — As angelus — as silvery vesper- 
knell, 
As cloistered aisles alive with thrilling praise — 
Thy voice, Columbus — ay, as God's own wooing. 

Columbus — If you will succor them of whom I spoke, 
To you 't is little — nay, eternal life ; 
To them, 't is all things. Madam, ponder it. 



1 4 Cohmibus. 

Isabella {overcome by eniotiori\—Yio\N shall she ponder 
that hath nought to question — 
How treat, how yield, that is already captive ? 
{To Ferdinand, tvith decision'] My lord the king, I an- 
swer for this man. 
Ferdinand— yi2idi3,m. ? 
Isabella — I say I answer for this seaman. 
Ferdina?id—T\\Q queenly zeal of Isabel is known ; 
What graver weighs than sentiment, forbids : 
The coffers of the kingdoms are at ebb. 

Isabella [raising from her ^^^/]— Look you, my lord, I 
hung these jewels on — 
And there are others left— to grace our court-tide. 
[To Columbus] My coffers are not ebbed, as yet, so low 
But they can spare, Columbus, for your needs. 
But were it so, and were the wealth in them, 
Yea, every carline wasted, and these left — 
These stones of pomp, encumbering royalty, 
These flaming meteors upon breast and brow — 
To their last sun-flash, friend, they should be thine. 

[Murmurs . 
Not a word, grandees— 't is the price of souls. 

Colufnbus [at the queen's feet]— Oh, madam, God will 

bless you — He reward you. 
Isabella— ^ot a word further, not a word, Columbus — 
Ships, men, appointments, all must be devised. 

Colui}ibus—yid.&2im, two brothers, my most loving 
kinsmen, 
Attend this issue. 

Isabella [to the usher]— 'LQt them be admitted. 
Prior— Oi ships there is an offer opportune. 
The brothers Pinzon, prosperous mariners— 



Cohcmbtis, 1 5 



They are of Palos, madam, next my cloister- 
Tarry without. 
Isabella — The Pinzons be admitted. 



Scene III. — The same. Bartholomew and Diego Co- 
lumbus. 
Columbus \to the queen] — Madam, my brothers : this 
Bartholomew ; 
Diego this ; my right hand and my left. 



Scene IV. — The sa?ne. The Pinzons. 

Prior — Madam, these are the Pinzons — Martin Alonzo, 
Francesco Martin, bluff Vincento Yanez. 

Isabella [regarding the five mari7ters\ — A generation 

worthy of the sea. \_The five retire. 

[To the court] Now, gentlemen of Spain, the turn is 

yours. 
Who, ruffling in the trappings of the court. 
What gay hidalgo, blue of blood, high-mettled. 
The Virgin on his lips, at heart his lady, 
Quick with the rapier, quicker with the word, 
Quickest where feet of dainty dames are flitting, 
What such hidalgo cruises with these vessels ? \A pause. 
What ! none will answer ? Then the queen must say it ; 
Alonzo de Ojeda, I mean you. 

Ojeda — My lady's eyes are as the heaven ; her bidding 
Strikes me as the quick lightning. I am ready. 

Isabella — Gentle Ojeda, who will sail with you ? 

Ojeda — Madam, fair fifty, chosen gentlemen. 

Isabella — Pedro de Marguerite, in the wars 



1 6 Cohtmbus, 

Your sword won glory for you. Will you add 

To glory, which, like bubbles, vanishes 

When bit upon, fat dukedoms ? Speak, don Pedro. 

Marguerite — Madam, my sword is hallowed to Saint 
James ; 
Could I refuse your grace's offering, 
Forever were his favor turned from me. 

Isabella — Can you be bound for any ? Who will go ? 

Mai'guerite — Strong arms enough to plant a settlement. 

Isabella — It is our further dear solicitude 
A man of piety and tact approved 
Do undertake the baptism of these realms. 

Fonseca — The Benedictine friar, Bernard Boyle, 
Most filial to the Church, and politic. 

Isabella \to Foiiseca\ — Hereafter, my lord bishop, we 
shall need, 
In those far lands, a generous controller, 
An office we would rest upon yourself. 

\^Fonseca inclines his head stiffly. 
The enterprise thrives well ; our posts are filling. 

Marchioness [apart] — Madam, perchance the leader 
stands in need. 

Isabella — Columbus, are you married ? have you chil- 
dren ? 

Columbus — A son, the mother of the lad lives not ; 
A student yet, he serves his sovereigns. 

Isabella — So old is Juan, and our only heir ; 
The boys shall be together. — Come, Columbus, 
Ships, vessels, armaments, all are in waiting. 

Columbus \Jiesitating\ — Pardon me, madam, there is yet 
a topic. 
Of ships, crews, armaments, hath been discussion ; 



Cohtmbus, 1 7 

Not yet of ranks, emoluments, rewards. 

Isabella — The greater holds the less. Have faith in us, 

Columbus — Yet, let me say my heart out, 't is of im- 
port. — [ With deliberation. 
My queen, it may be that my doom is water. 
Fogs, horrid thunders, pestilence, things monstrous, 
All may engulf me ; then, I have begged nothing. 
But, if I argue to the Tartar Khan ; 
If bright Cipango welcome me all gold ; 
If Prester John enquire my sending forth ; 
There, in that presence, I demand to sue. 
Under sign-manual of your majesties. 
In this enlargement to my proper writing : — 
— Don Cristoval Columbus, Grand of Spain ; 
High admiral within the ocean seas ; 
Viceroyal over main and every isle 
Hereafter by myself to be discovered ; 
Lord of all revenues thereunto pertaining : 
Power to treat, and power to be treated. 
Authoritative, plenipotential. 
Not second to the admirals of Castile ; 
And, last, that these fair dignities entail 
Unto mine heirs in perpetuity. 
Failing the which engrossment, I budge not. 

[ Tu7nult throughout the assembly. 

A Noble — I stand for privilege ! 

A Second — And I ! 

A Third— K^d. I ! 

Columbus ^Looking fixedly at the queen\ — Madam, by my 
soul's safety, I adjure you. 

Fonseca \7mth violence^ — My king, my queen, my lords, 
your reverences. 



1 8 Columbus, 

There was no show of saneness in this man 
Before he troubled your great presences. 
His own and ours, and every land of Christ, 
Had marked the fatal wryness of his judgment, 
And the sad error that afflicts his soul 
I call for the expulsion of Columbus. 

Several Voices — Expulsion ! 

Others — For expulsion ! 

Others — For expulsion ! 

Isabella [with dtg?iity\ — My lords and nobles, silence, 
and you all. — 
Columbus, I attest it by thy soul — 
That thou demand'st of me — I cannot grant it. — 
[A pause and sudden silence. She leaves her seaty descends 

from the dais^ and kneels solemnly before the king. 
— Our brother, throned in Aragon and Navarre ; 
Illustrious sovereign ; dread ally ; dear husband : 
There was a moment radiant in our reigns 
Beyond the sum of all the saints have blessed. 
From Bivarambla's, from Elvira's gate. 
The last Morisco, the last crescent faded. 
You from the east, I from the western portal, 
Entered, 'midst flashing pomp of chivalry. 
At the high altar of our blessed Lord, 
We swore, henceforward and forevermore. 
As brothers, and as princes, and as Christ's, 
To lend each other, in each other's need, 
And at each other's call, most sure assistance. — 
I am in need. I cannot help this man 
Except the king of Aragon concur — 
My lord, I do invoke that vow's fulfilment. 

Ferdinand \extending his hand\ — Your suit is granted. 



Columbus. 1 9 

[Isabella resumes her seat. 
What shall follow this, 
I, not by nature timorous, fear, foreboding. 
— Columbus, kneel. It is enough. Rise up, 
Don Cristoval Columbus, Grand of Spain, 
Under sign-manual of our majesties ; 
High admiral within the ocean seas ; 
Viceroyal over main and every isle 
Hereafter by thyself to be discovered ; 
Lord of the revenues thereunto attaching — 
Thou and thine heirs, in perpetuity ; 
Power to treat and power to be treated, 
Authoritative, plenipotential. 
Not second to the admirals of Castile ; 
By which enlargement let the world receive you. — 
— Columbus, we have hung, with little breath. 
Great honors on you, and a weighty burden — 
Trust us that long have borne a weightier. 
We would not leave you helpless to your foes. 
Nor to your young noviciate of power. 
Think us your friend — and, oh, Columbus, teach 
Your ways to walk, in sight of man and heaven. 
Advisedly, that ye rue not our friendship. 
— My lords, the court is risen. You that quit us. 
To preparation. My lord Admiral, 
Be ready, at the briefest, for the sea. 

As the court retire^ Fonseca detains Ojeda by a sign. 
During their colloquy Columbus remains withdrawn^ as 
in deep revery. He is regarded with gestures of admira- 
tion by two monks in Oriental apparel., bearing a banfter with 
the cross. 



20 Coluinbus. 

Scene V. — Fonseca : Ojeda, 

Fonseca \indicating Columbus\ — The man with whom 
you sail is desperate. 

Ojeda — My lord ? 

Fonseca — Columbus is a lunatic. 
I do not call his madness to account, 
There are asylums. That which doth affect us — 
Affect us much, Ojeda, is — his faith, 

Ojeda — Father, I tremble. 

Fonseca — And I tremble, boy. 

Ojeda — Shall I break with him ? I will ; and yet — the 
queen. 

Fonseca [impetuously] — Ojeda, cleave to him as to sal- 
vation. 
If thou canst save his soul, the deed were blest ; 
If that thou canst not, save thyself, save us. 
And see he come to no advancement further. 
Lest he should boast himself for Deity. 

Ojeda \_giving him his hand] — I am constrained to it — 
and I do pledge you. 

Fonseca — There are some things that we do not for 
gain, 
Yet in which gain doth wait on heaven's service. 
Ojeda, speak to me of this hereafter. 

They go out together. Columbus, rousing from his r every, 
observes the monks. The three come forward. 

Scene VI. — Columbus, the Monks. 

Columbus — What are ye, monkish men, that gaze at 
me ? 
Why stop ye me ? what signifies your ensign ? 



Cohmibiis, 2 1 

Elder monk — Alack, we are of Holy Sepulchre, 
And it is fallen into grievous hands. 
In pagan shape the wild boar riots there ; 
His husky growlings keep the world at bay, 
His tusks are whetted upon pilgrim bones ! 

Columbus — Father, it is enough ; give me the emblem ! 
\^He clasps the banner and raises it aloft. 
O God, accept thy servant in this sign. 
[To the monks] Greybearded men, go tell of me, and say 
Columbus ansAvers for St. Sepulchre. 



ACT II. 

THE CARAVELS OF COLUMBUS AT SEA. 

The quarter-deck of the Santa Maria. Right, the taff- 
rail with a jurymast ; left, the mizzen-mast with its shrouds. 
The yards are lowered and close-reefed. Forward, the 
Spanish ensign j aft, the banner of the Cross. Iji vista is 
seen the ocean, in perfect calm. Through a trejnulous haze 
appear the Nifta and Pinta, sister caravels. 

Scene I. — Columbus, alone : he paces the deck for some 
moments, as in imquiet meditation, and then speaks. 

Columbus — ^* And oh, Columbus, teach your ways to 
walk. 
In sight of heaven and man, advisedly." — 
Hast thou done that ? And have I not ? O conscience, 
Have I in aught offended, witness to it. — 
Thy voice is silent ; I am innocent. — 
— Yet, I am troubled. Not through thee, my ocean, 
For well I know thee, both when thou dost lift 
Thy billows to the angry firmament. 
As thou hast done ; and when thou let'st them fall. 
And when thou spread'st abroad, as now thou dost, 
The glassy-molten mirror of thy calm ; 
Thee and the hand that sways thee, I know well. — 



Columbus. 23 

— Nor thou, my queen, that sent'st me, nor thy love, 

Nor his that raised me to be what I am ; 

Nor ye, my brothers, that with arms of home 

And ever cheery voices succor me ; 

Nor some few faithful — I mistrust not ye. — 

But ah, a shadow of distress, as from 

A darker cloud that lowers athwart the prow — 

A cloud that must be met, cannot be shunned — 

Oppresses me, and I am sad of soul. — 

\^He contmues his walk. 
— Eternal — that thou gavest me to do, 
Thou gavest me, except thy living grace. 
Small means to work it with. I am most poor ; 
Poor in my dignities and poor in tact. 
The rather, then, desert me not, but be 
Upon my right hand and upon my left. 
And be the canopy above my head. 



Scene II. — The satne ; the Pinzons. 

Columbus — Martin Alonzo, it hath run the hour. 

Martin Alonzo — We come to take your excellency's 
watch : 
And, pray your excellency, snatch some slumber — 
The hollows of your eyes are wan with waking. 

Columbus — I could not in the tempest, good Alonzo, 
And now I may not ; for I have a task 
To which I must the more apply myself, 
For, as I think, we shall make land anon. 

Martin Alonzo — God grant it, and preserve your excel- 
lency. 



24 Columbus, 

Scene III. — The same ; without Columbus. 

Vincente Yanez — Amen ; and send us Spain again, say I. 
Francesco Martin — 'T were not amiss. I would we were 
at home ; 
These oceans are possessed of many devils. 

Vincente Yanez — Return. The timbers of our vessels 

yawn. 
Martin Alofizo — Ay, that is true. The ships are in ill 
plight ; 
They have borne more than ever vessels yet : 
Tempest and calm alike have loosened them. 
Francesco Martin — We are far out. When shall we 

look for harbor ? 
Martin Alonzo — I know no harbor all the way to Spain. 
Vincente Yanez — Indeed there is none. Let us put 

about. 
Francesco Martin — Who is it comes ? 
Martin Alo7izo — Ojeda and Don Pedro. 
Vincente Yanez — The third — 
Martin Alonzo — Is Roldan, of the colonists. 



Scene IV. — The same. Ojeda, Marguerite, Roldan. 
Roldan advances and accosts the Pinzons. Ojeda 
and Marguerite re?nain behind. 

Ojeda [aside, after observing the Pinzons'] — Now were 
the occasion, save those looks betray me, 
To wait on heaven with profit. [To Marguerite. 

Saw'st thou dejection ever livelier painted ? 

Marguerite — Ojeda, never. 



Colu7nbus, 25 

Ojeda — Think'st thou now were time 
To press, thou know'st, our matter of return ? 
Marguerite — 'T were opportune. 
Ojeda — Let me depend on thee 
And see our burly Roldan fail us not. 

[Advancing to the Finzons. 
Well met. Good-morning to your masterships. 

Martin Alonzo — 'T is noon, good Don Alonzo — so, 

good-day ! 
Ojeda — Let it be even-song, or what it will ; 
I count no hours. Now, out on voyaging ! 

Martin Alonzo — Indeed, 't is wearisome, though to tried 

hands. 
Marguerite [with a sign to Roldan] — Oh, wearisome? 
Why, look you, in less time 
This sword that rusts here could have hewn out king- 
doms 
Than we are lying water-logged. Fie ! fie ! 

Vincente Yatiez — We have no liking to it, gentlemen ; 
We trusted to have freighted all our vessels. 
And reaped a noble venture ere this time. 

Roldan — Fevers and yellow jaundice — golden faces, 
I fear, my masters, will prove all our treasure. 

Francesco Marti?i — We too are sick, and sick to be at 
home. 

Ojeda — Why, say you so ? Your hand, Francesco 
Martin ! 
There 's not a soul but cries amen to it. 

[ With a glance at Martin Alonzo. 
Your brother should be with us, yet he speaks not. 

Martin Alonzo — Sirs, as I am a Christian and hope 
grace. 



26 Columbus. 

I must pronounce the vessels of the fleet 
Not adequate to live out another storm. 

OJeda — Why, then, the helm about, brave Pinzon ; 
come ! [ To Francesco Martin. 

How stands it with the mariners ? 

Francesco Martin — They clamor. 

Marguerite — To sail, or turn ? 

Francesco Martin — For turning, to a man. 

Ojeda — Your hands upon it ! Come, we are united — 
Crews, nobles, colonists. Who will resist ? 

Martin Alonzo — Maybe the admiral ; he is not patient. 
Besides, there are the men in cowls — Boyle's people ; 
They have not spoken. 

Ojeda — They are here to answer. 

Vince?tte Yanez — 'T is Boyle himself, and Miguel Bal- 
lester — 

Marguerite — The admiral's watch-dog, testy and alert. 

Scene V. — The same. Boyle, Ballester. The latter 
at first zvithdrawn. 

Ojeda — God save you. Father Boyle. How goes it 
with you ? 
Are the hands heavy yet with laying on ? 

Boyle — Now, by my tonsure and the paternoster, 
Ojeda, we are in a ship of fools. 

Marguerite — What say'st thou, Boyle, to an olla 
podrida ? 

Boyle — Ah, gentlemen, in Spain were dainty messes. 
Of unctuous memory to a fasting soul ; 
What there we wasted would have fed us here. 
Oh, villainy of sea-biscuit and salt junk ! 



Columbus, 2 7 

Ojeda — What think'st thou of the new saint, Father 
Boyle ? 

Boyle — What saint, Ojeda ? 

Ojeda — He that shall be one — 
The admiral ? 

Boyle — Ha ! ha ! a likely saint ! 

\^He commands attention by a gesture. 
Look ye, good people, think not I would rail 
Against the admiral, but this is gospel. \^To the Finzons. 
Recall ye, masters, the three lightning bolts ? 

Martin Alonzo — Before the tempest ; ay, the wind was 
southerly. 

Boyle — That was a gale ! Saints of the calendar ! 
Except for heaven's grace and aguardiente — 

Ojeda — But of the admiral ? 

Boyle — A merry saint ! 
Let him sweat out his penances, if he get 
To Spain again — where, would to God were we ! 

Marguerite — There has been talk afoot to take him 
thither. 

Boyle — By force ? 't were ill. 

Ojeda — Nay, nay, but peaceably ! 
Unless, indeed, he offer opposition 
More than we think. Then were the fault not ours. 

Marguerite — Say, ye are with us ? 

Boyle — Hand and heart and soul. 

Ojeda — No question, then, we move the admiral. 

Ballester \coming forward : to Ojeda and his companions^ 
— I think, indeed, ye '11 move the admiral ! 
Three popinjays and a green cloister rook — 
Ye are a likely choir to pipe of it ! 

Martin Alonzo — We have no purpose, honest Miguel — 



28 Columbus, 

Ballester \to the Finzoiis] — Ay, sirs, and such a seaman ! 
So distraught 
As to know nought of ocean, storm, or cahii — 
To give deceptive islands for true shores, 
Hailing in each new cloud a continent ! 
I think indeed ye will prevail with him, 
And when ye do, then Miguel Ballester, 
Whose locks from grey shall blanche to purest white 
Ere hand of yours shall harm him, gives you joy. 

[^He goes. 

Scene VI. — The same j without Ballester. 

Marguerite— Ys.YtyfQ\\, staunch Miguel Ballester, fare- 
well. 
There 's not a trustier heart afloat than thine. 

OJeda — Nor one our purpose easier can dispense with. 
Now, friends, to action ; for we are agreed. 
Martin Alojtzo— Yet tarry, for my brothers and myself. 

(9;>^^— Stand ye not pledged ? Ye think not to desert us ? 

Francesco Martin— ^2,y, but a moment, till our watch 
be o'er. 

Vincente Yanez—^e wait the brothers of the admiral. 

Martin Alonzo — The time is lapsed. 

Roldan — A comer. 

Francesco Martin — 'T is themselves. 

Marguerite— ^dcy, 't is the admiral — with what a step ! 
He bears his sixty winters like a youth. 

OJeda — With kindling eye he scans a chart and folds it ; 
I have not seen him lustier since we sailed. 



Columbus, 29 

Scene VII. — The same. Columbus. 



Columbus [blithely] — A glad good-day, good friends, 

and heaven be with you. 
Marguerite — Good-day, good sir ; you have slept off 

foul weather. 
Columbus — I could not. I was, till this moment, in 
A work — oh, excellent ; Vincente Yanez, 
Should anywhere my brothers meet you, pray 
Advise them I would see them privately. 

Martin Alonzo — We spoke of them but now. 'T is 
they relieve us — 
And, punctual with the hour, behold them both. 

Scene VIII. — The same. Bartholomew and Diego 
Columbus. 

Columbus — Come, gentle brothers, come ; well met, 
well met. [ To the rest. 

An old man's whim to gossip with his kin ; 
Ye will not think it blunt that ye withdraw. 

Ojeda — So much the readier, sir, as, whatsoe'er 
May be the unguessed theme of your discourse. 
It scarcely claims our absence more than that 
Which we are summoned to invites your own. 

Bartholomew — How mean you that, sir ? 

Ojeda — Mean, Don Bartl'my ? 

Bartholomew — Ay, mean. 

Ojeda — What lies below us here ? 

Bartholojnew — In stowage ? Powder. 

Ojeda — Bethink you, if a little spark — 
A very trifling, caught it — good-day, dons. \^They go. 



30 Columbus. 

Scene IX. — Columbus ; Bartholomew ; Diego. 

Columbus — Good brothers, 'tis a joyful news I bring, 
And that 't is joj^ful, ye shall hear it first. 
I had not banished these smooth gentlemen, 
But, to be plain, they are not open with me, 
And I must counter-ambush, counter-mine. 
Indeed, it pains me — not that it is new. 
For when I sped from court to court erewhile. 
As hovers the pale wisp from pool to pool, 
I found men covert. Yet, by heaven, I dreamed, 
After so great appointment, such pledge given. 
And so far following the pregnant wave, 
It had been otherwise. It wears on me. 
Sometimes, had heaven e'en sent another man, 
I had been grateful. Then I beat the breast. 
And bless the saints for brothers such as ye. 
But now, my tidings — 

BartJiolomew — Lo ! as shod with wings, 
Speeds from the forecastle Miguel Ballester. 

Scene X. — The same. Ballester, entering in haste. 
Columbus, in the interim^ has d?'awn forth a chart, 
upon which, during the following scene, his attention is 
absorbed. 

Ballester \to Columbus^ — A word, my admiral. 
Colujnbus [intent upon his chart\ — Another time, good 

Miguel. 
Ballester — Forgive ! 
Columbus — Another time. 
Ballester — 'T will be too late ! Your safety is at stake. 



Columbus. 3 1 

Columbus {looking up\ — We sail so long these seas, and 
you first tell me ? 

Ballester — Oh, not from elements — from humankind. 

Columbus \Jiis eye on the chart] — Still, 't is no news. 
Anon, good Miguel. 

Ballester — Conspiracy, my chief, rank mutiny. 

Columbus — My conscience — is it blameless ? I am 
armed. 

Ballester — If ill befall you, chide not Ballester. 

Columbus {extending his hand] — Your hand, good Mi- 
guel — so I trust not many. {Ballester goes. 

Scene XI. — The same j zm'thout BaIjLester. 

Bartholomew — This harm long festers. 

Diego — All good powers bestead us ! 

Columbus — Put off forebodings ; they do wrong to one 
Without whose will no sparrow falls. But now, 
I promised ye should share glad news with me. 
And this it is : We are most near to land. 

Bartholomeiv — Brother, embrace me — 't is a rare, rare 
joy. 

Diego — Oh, shores unguessed ! oh, wondrous homes of 
men ! 
How will ye meet us — what fair guise put on ? 
Soft mountains, purple with the western sun ; 
Green valleys, lustrous groves of flower and fruit, 
Blue skies, bright rivulets, myriad-plumaged [flocks. 
Dark, silent bays, lucent with painted prows ; 
Fair-featured denizens, serene of soul, 
In all, except their baptism, living blest — 
Yet, by a providential grace, prepared 



32 Columbus, 

To lovingly lay hold on their sole lacking. 
Oh, gentle shores ! oh, gain to Christ's estate ! 

Bartholomew — Thanks, meek Diego ; but mine eyes 
behold 
A livelier picture rising from yon west ; — 
Harbors where broadly droop the silken sails 
Of galleons whose carved prows the ivory decks ; 
Walls wandering on through leagues, imperial gates, 
Bright towers that soar above the low-tiled roof ; 
From inland groves the smell of balm and spice, 
And, nigh at hand, the masters of all craft, 
In stiff embroidery of mighty looms. 
Oh, golden shores ! oh, wealth to all our race ! 

Colu7nbus — Peaceful or loud, green, golden-hued, 
howe'er, 
Their shew be fashioned, there they wait for us ; 
Almost the eye — almost the hand — 

Bartholomew \abruptly\ — Lo ! lo ! 

Diego ^looking forward] — The friars are in commotion. 

Columbus — Is 't a feast day ? 

Diego — 'T is none. 

Columbus — Yet in procession are they here. 

Bartholomew — With Boyle to head them, sour in the 
face. 



Scene XII. — The same. Boyle ; Benedictines. 

Boyle — God bless me, dons ; what pagan dance is 
this ? [Loosening his girdle. 

See you a knot upon this cord ? It marks 
The average girth of our poor brotherhood 
When we weighed anchor. Here 's another such ; 



Columbus, 33 

It shews the meagre rakes that we are shrunk to. 
Good lack, the storm, and at its heels this calm — 
If heaven e'er spake by signs we are called homeward, 
Whither these innocents through their prayers invite you. 
Cohimbus— Good Father Boyle, we are called home 

indeed ; 
The heaven that sent us tempest now sends rest. 
As the brief prelude to a greater joy. 

Boyle {bluntly] — Should harm betide ye, we are shrived 

of it. [He withdraws with the monks. 

Scene XIII. — The same ; without the friars. 

Bartholomew [from the side of the vessel] — Brother, the 
fleet is rising. Boat on boat 
Surround our caravel ! Vincente Yanez — 
Conspiracy in sea-boots — is he that leads them. 

Scene XIV. — The same ; Vincente Yanez with mari- 
ners ; they asceiid the vessel from the side. 

Vincente Yanez — My admiral, the sailors of our ships 
Are weary of the ocean. They have borne 
More than on shipboard ever crew before. 
And now we float, far from all anchorage. 
It is our will that all return to Spain. 

Columbus [to the sea?nen] — My gallant hearts — indeed 
ye have borne much, 
But bear a little yet. Ye shall return, 
And each, when he is gray, shall sit amid 
His children's children, and with pride shall say : 
'' In that brave year, we served the admiral ; - 



34 



Columbus. 



I sailed the Pinta with Francesco Martin "; 
" I the St. Mary with the eldest Pinzon "; 
" And I the Nina with bluff Vincente Yanez." 
That will be honor more than to cry home. 

Vincente Yanez — We have heard speech enough. We 
are for turning. 
If it go hardly with ye, hold us blameless. 

\^The marijiers, with their leader^ withdraw toward 
the rights occupying one side of the background, 
Diego \_lookifig forward'] — See, from the hatches, sallow 
ghosts of men. 
Crippled, emaciated, led by Roldan. 



Scene XV. — The same. Roldan, with colonists. 

Roldan — Lord Admiral, behold — those looks are lan- 
guage ; 
My tongue adds nothing. They demand return. 

Columbus [moved] — Ye came for fortune, I grow 
womanish 
To see your plight. Trust me, 't is not for long ; 
A little patience yet, a groan suppressed — 

Roldan — Our ailment airs of Spain alone can heal. 
Of what may follow, we are innocent. 

[They occupy the background to the left, opposite the 
77iaritiers. 
Bartholomew [from the sides] — The masters of the fleet ! 
Eyes, must ye see 
Martin Alonzo Pinzon among these ? 



Columbus. 35 

Scene XVI. — The same. Martin Alonzo Pinzon with 
the masters. 

Martin Alonzo — My admiral, it is a sorry day 
That I am here for what I never augured. 
The masters here, to whom my voice is echo — 
Yet not with judgment varying from theirs, 
Have past on all their vessels condemnation, 
By which it comes, our cruise is at an end. 
If I have cause to grieve, let my risks answer. 

Columbus [gravely] — If /have cause to grieve, let thy 
soul answer. 
Martin Alonzo Pinzon, more than most 
You stood committed. This is hard return. 
But not your pleading, nor the voice of all, 
Has left me other than you found me here. 
Nor set the Spanish shores a whit more nigh. 

[The masters gather to the right^ in advance of the 
marifiers. 
Diego [looking forward] — Our gentlemen of birth, with 
Marguerite 
And rash Ojeda ! Heaven be good to us ! 



Scene XVII. — The same. Ojeda, Marguerite, with 
nobles. They take place to the left, in advance of the 
colonists. 

Ojeda [to the admiral] — My lord, we are for Spain. 
The ship about ! 
Ye, on the forecastle, are well enough, 
But when it comes to putting honors on, 
Ye show the weakness of your origin. 



36 Columbus. 

Our will is upon Spain, so let our course be ; 
What reason may attain not, force must further. 

Bartholomew \ivith indignation] — Have ye no sense of 
duty ? Shame, oh, shame 
Upon you all ! and doubly shame, Ojeda, 
For you — oh, you — are at the root of it ! 
And if you cry to weapons, force for force ! 

OJeda [to the nobles] — You hear these taunts, you cava- 
liers of Spain ? 
You bear them ? I bear not. [to Bartholomew] — And 

since you bluster. 
Stand to your ward, and test which be the better. 

Bartholofnew [drawing] — I fear ye not, and do in arms 

defy ye ! 
Diego — Drawn, brother hothead ? One — against 

Castile ? 
Marguerite [to the nobles] — Hidalgos, answer them 

with steel for steel. 
Ojeda [to the colonists and seamen] — Comrades, our 
cause is common, show with us. 
[Nobles, colonists, and seamen draw their weapons and 
press with mutinous outcry about the admiral. 
Nobles — The ship about ! 
Seamen — Return to Spain ! 
Colonists — Return ! 

Columbus [to Bartholomew] — Brother Bartholomew, put 
up thy weapon ; 
Who takes the sword shall perish by the sword. 

[ To the mutineers with great tranquillity. 
Friends, friends ! I were not he that walked with ye — 
I were not that Columbus whom ye knew. 
Must I run wreck upon your reefs of straw. 



Cohcmbiis, 3 7 

A generation laid in wait to end me, 
And yet I overcame. Had ye weighed this, 
Ye better had discerned the man I am, 
And learned to gauge the Power that works through me. 
Oj'eda — What power, Columbus ? Thou art in our hands. 
And hast the narrow choice to yield or perish. 

Columbus [to OJeda] — Hath your small measuring wand 
meted out heaven ? 
[He extends his arms aloft as In attitude of invocation. 
— O thou that never yet didst idly mar, 
Nor suffer rust upon thy tools of service : — 
Thou that in elder time, in Mount Moriah, 
Having by covenant laid choice upon 
The sole-begot of Abram, through whose seed 
Thy people should possess the goodly land — 
The land of promise — didst by angel voice 
And the bright gesture of forbidding arms 
Wend from his breast the too devoted steel : — 
Thou unto whom impossible is light, 
And most awaited is the unforeseen : — 
Yet once again, if e'er thou wrought'st in me. 
Be present visibly — yet not for me, 
Who have nought doubted — but for sake of these. 

[As he pronounces the last words, he bows his heady 
burying his features in his hands. ^ 
OJeda — A truce to mockery. Thine arts are stale. 
Marguerite — The heavens are iron. They will open 
not. 
[A great commotion pervades the bystanders. Their 
faces are riveted, as with amaze7ne7it, i?i one direction^ 
A Seaman [pointing'] — Behold, upon the sky ! 
A Colonist — A prodigy ! 



^S Columbus. 

Diego \T.vith tremulous z'o/ce] — O brother, God hath 
sent thee a great sign. 

Columbus \Jiis head still bowed\ — Brother Diego, speak ; 
read'st thou the vision ? 

Diego — Brother, along the most transparent air 
There floats, to westward, radiant as with eve, 
A wondrous cloud. As over golden seas 
Some galley, genii freighted, on its breast 
Sails a proud eagle. Glorious is his flight, 
But more transcendent she that thrones on him — 
A heavenly maid. Her left hand's winning touch 
Fondles her airy courser, that for joy 
Ruffles his plumes ; her right upholds a wand 
Of unguessed power. Around her glows the cloud, 
And o'er her head a coronal of stars 
That pale not though the daylight challenge them. 

Columbus — Speak on, Diego ; read'st thou still the 
vision ? 

Diego. — Distinctly, for it nears. I see the maid. 
A crimson tunic, bold but virginal, 
Protects her from the throat ; about her feet 
Sway folds of tawny white ; a mantle glides 
Adown her faultless shoulders that hath caught 
Its color from sea-waves where they are deepest. 
Her loose-flung locks are tangled, raven-dark ; 
Her features dusky. From her seems diffused 
A fragrance of the turf — the balmy breath 
Of multitudinous forests, the far plash 
Of never-ending rivers. I would swear 
Those buskined feet, in some waned moon of earth, 
Had to her secret'st glade pursued the doe. 
And still, translated, bears the immortal maid 



Cohimhcs. 39 

Her sylvan life with her — but glorified. 

Seamen \in consternatioji\ — Lo, how the eagle flaps his 

wings on high ! 
Colonists — The cloud descends — the maid is in our 

midst ! 



Scene XVIII. — The same. Aerial music is heard. The 
cloud, upbearing the Genius, descends majestically and 
rests above the gunwale of the vessel. The music ceases. 
The Genius, still seated, addresses the mutineers. 

The Genius — Your weapons to their sheaths, misguided. 
Not 
For them is he ordained that standeth yonder. 

\Colonists, seamen, and nobles, the last with inanifest 
reluctance, return their weapons. The Genius alights. 
Upon a sign from, her, the eagle, upbearing the cloud, 
reascends. As she comes forward, the mutifieers upon 
each side ?fiake way for her. She addresses Columbus. 
Columbus, raise thy head. Because, not void 
Of heavenly inspiration, thou hast weighed 
The import of thy calling and its source. 
And wouldst not bate thy trust, but bor'st it still 
Triumphant, to this hour, against the league 
Of man and nature and thy fleshly weakness — 
Therefore the power is theirs to whom the will 
Lacks never, to befriend thee. I am sent, 
Thy daughter truly, and whom men shall know 
Hereafter by thy name — Columbia — 
To gratify thine asking to the utmost. 

Columbus [pausing^ — That I might see my life in its 
fulfilment. 



40 Cohtinbiis. 

The Genius [^directing her wand upon hint] — Thy gaze 

upon the west. What seest thou ? 
Columbus [with absorbed attentioi{\ — A rosy phantom of 
quick-shifting mists : 
Dream-like they pass and change, and take on them 
The image of a land. For leagues it lies, 
From where the sunlight beats upon the palm, 
To where by frozen cataracts glooms the pine, 
Shrouded in winter. Mountain and broad plain, 
Woodland and sheeted lake, and streams whose mouths 
Are mighty gulfs. And now again the mist 
Gathers, and there is nought. — Are these things so ? 
Lies such a land indeed beneath the sea ? 

The Genius — Even as thou hast seen it, so it lies. 
Columbus — 'T is fair, but lonely, Save, above its 
heights. 
The eagle's swoop, the wild-ox and the deer 
By plain and covert, it were desolate. 

The Genius \raising the wand] — Receive again the 

vision, and behold. 
Columbus [as before] — Indeed, but there are people ! 
A dusk race. 
Even as thyself ; but these as surely human 
As thou art not so. Some, with noiseless tread, 
Snare the slight doe, others the bulky ox — 
And dwell in huts. Some, light-hued, to their gods 
Before a blood-stained altar wreathed with flowers 
Offer a hateful victim. And again. 
The shifting mists prevail, and there is nought. 

The Genius — Thou hast seen truly, yet thy looks are 

grave. 
Columbus \Jiesitating] — Must never better blessing crown 
this land 



Cohimbus, 41 

Than those sad people and their bloody rites ? 

The Genius [reneiving her gestttre\ — Add to the power 
thou had'st, as much as folds 
The joints of time, and makes the future present. 
Columbus \jvith new wonder] — Oh, change of changes ! 

The beneficent glebe 
Rolls to the sun its myriad harvest-waves — 
Boundless, luxuriant ! Marts by the blue deep ; 
Din and uproarious blast of the fierce forge ! 
Through calm, and sailless, against wind and tide, 
Move ships impossibly — and wheels impelled 
By force I fathom not. From sea to sea 
With more than lightning speed flash fiery streams 
That seem as instinct with intelligence — 
And now — again the mists, and it is blank. 

The Genius — If thou be satisfied, the scene may close. 

Columbus — I am not clear. This triumph of the seas — 
This fabulous empire of constructive skill. 
Is not the toil of that neglected race ? 

The Genius — Not theirs, indeed. 

Columbus — Then whose ? I would know that. 

The Genius \as before] — Be in the power again and look 
thy fill. 

Columbus [gazing long in silence, then with avoice of supreme 
e?notion\ — Oh, bid me cease ! There is no law that I, 
To death yet tributary, should dispart 
The spell-wove and sybilline drapery 
Which clings to the unborn, even as her folds 
About the form of that Egyptian goddess 
Whose vesture none should raise. And yet a man 
Rent it and died in seeing. Heed for me, 
Lest, guilty as himself, a kindred stroke 



42 Cohiinbtts, 

Join me to him in destiny, cut off 
As he through terror, through excess of joy ! 
The Genius — Thou art content ? 
Columbus — Enough ! Reverse the wand. 
The Genius — Its power go out of thee. Be as thou wast. 
Columbus — Oh, nevermore ! The h'ghts that are of 
heaven 
Leave not the souls they shine on as they were — 
And mine is strengthened to whatever end. 

The Genius — So should it be with thee ; and, being so. 
Not foiled in my commission I return. 

Columbus [starting forward] — Oh, let me bless — 
The Genius [waving him back as she points upward] — 
No more ! My wild steed screams, 
And yonder flames the cloud that must receive me. 

[Faint music is heard. The cloud, bearing the eagle, 
descends. As the Genius withdraws, the mutifieers, 
with gestures of co?itfition, prostrate themselves before 
her. As she resumes her seat, the music ceases. 
Upon a sign from her, the bird, together with the 
cloud, ascends. The mutineers rise from their k?iees. 

Scene XIX. — The same j zuithout the Gy.i<sivs. 

Seamen [to the colonists] — Comrades, 't is luck that 

after this we live. 
Colonists — That we have done amiss is evident. 

[Columbus turns to the penitent mutineers, who press 
around him with demonstrative submission. 
Marguerite [to Ojedci] — He slips our toils. His jugglery 
hath lamed 
The arms whereon we leaned. Our blow is baffled. 



Columhis. 43 

Ojeda — But for a while. This is his element ; 
Here his familiar spirits work his will. 
The land is ours. Gain it — if e'er it bless us — 
And failing then to trip him, be not thou 
Called Marguerite more, nor I Ojeda. 

Columbus \to the masters\ — I am your servant, sirs, and 

stay your bidding. 
Martin Alonzo — We have no pleasure save your excel- 
lency's. 
Columbus — See ye, toward the east, a small, white cloud ? 
It carries wind. 'T were well ye give the fleet 
Summons to sail ; for trust me now, if ever. 
Before that wind be spent, 't will blow us land. 

Francesco Martin — Gunner, the signal ! Boatswain, 

pipe all hands ! 
Boatswain \^from the deck] — Sail ho ! sail ho ! yoho ! 

yoho ! all sail ! 
Seamen [from the deck] — Sail ho ! sail ho ! yoho ! 
yoho ! all sail ! 
\^The signal gtm is discharged a7td answered by the 
fleet. The crew with alacrity man the rigging. 
The yards are hoisted ^ the sails shaken out. As* 
the scene closes^ the chorus of the mariners answers 
the boatswaiii' s whistle from all parts of the ship. 
It is even heard with various degrees of distinctness 
from the remaining vessels of the expedition. 



ACT III. 

THE ALHAMBRA ; A PRIVATE APARTMENT. 

The details are those of the Hall of the Abencerrages. 
Near the lattice to the right, a stand with flowers ; beside it, 
an arm-chair. In the windowed recess forming the rear of 
the apartment, a desk for writing. Between this and the 
foregrotmd are divans. 

Scene I. — Ferdinand, Isabella, the Marchioness of 
MoYA. The king stands, in a musing attitude, near 
the window, out of which, as he begins to speak, his gaze 
is directed. The queen occupies the arm-chair. The 
marchioness is standing ?tear her side. 
Ferdinand \inusingly and ivith some despondency\ — Month 
follows month. The crimson sun descends 
Like an escutcheon stained with knightly blood 
Into the sea ; and dark the waves extend. 
Like folds of o'er-gorged monsters. Sea and sky 
Alike are silent. From that west returns 
No faintest shadow of the glorious shapes 
It hath engulfed. No ghost in warrior's arms, 
No vision of wrecked seamen drenched with spray ; 
No monk in shrouding cowl ; no son of toil. 
White-lipped, with thews relaxed ; no spectral craft 
Against the low, weird moon. An argosy 

44 



Columbus. 45 

Snatched beyond rescue by the shifting sands 
Were not a loss more hopeless than this venture. 

[^He turns back into the apartment and addresses the 
gueen. 
Even as I passed, I saw across the court 
Two youthful figures that with boyish zeal 
Pursued each other. One was slight and frail 
As the pomegranate ; one of vigorous frame, 
With cheeks like autumn. When in the bronzed features 
I recognized the heir to such bereavement. 
My heart was sad for his forlorn estate. 

Isabella — Falcon and seamew nestled in one eyrie 
Are Juan and Diego. Sports and tasks 
They share together, and our Moya smiles 
Like praise on each. Then let the lad be welcome. 
But, for this venture, husband, say if e'er 
The westward setting sun, howe'er obscured, 
Failed of his rising. Certain as the dawn 
I hold this fleet's return. What say'st thou, Moya ? 

Marchioness — My dearest Queen, if blessing waits on 
bounty, 
The influence upon Diego's lips 
Had rescued many navies. So, I 'm faithful. 

An usher [to the king] — My Lord Grand Cardinal. 

jFerdinand — Give him admission. 

Scene IL — The same. The Grand Cardinal Mendoza. 

Ferdinand \to Mendoza^ — Good-morrow, Cardinal. 
Isabella — Mendoza, welcome. 

Mendoza {saluting the sovereigns and the marchioness^ — 
Welcome, indeed, your graces, may I be ; 



46 Cohimbtcs. 

For, since the great spheres swept about our earth, 
Never stood subject in his sovereign's presence 
With such intelligence as I am fraught with. 
The strangest venture that put ever forth 
Under the strangest leader — 

Ferdinand \^quickly\ is returned ? 

Mendoza — A vessel of the squadron is in port. 

Ferdinand [in his forffter ione] — So many, and one 
saved — but one ; 't is hard ! 

Mendoza — But that one vessel brings such news — so 
weird, 
That I am lost for language to express it. 

Isabella — 'T is guessed already, but speak on, Men- 
doza. 

Mendoza — These dreamiest shores, which lured us like 
a maid 
That drops the veil before her lover's gaze, 
Peeps forth and vexes him, flits and is gone, — 
I say these shores are turned to stable land ; 
The veil is drawn — a new world is discovered. 

Isabella — Oh, this is joyous ! 

Marchioness — Madam, now 't is plain 
What voice was loud in the great lunatic. 

Ferdinand — 'T is strange, Lord Cardinal, as you ex- 
press it ; 
If but reality lag not behind. 

Mendoza — 'T is hard to seize as some strong miracle ; 
The sense must back it — would it find belief. 
And senses are not lacking to attest. 
These eyes beheld fruits alien to our clime. 
Unusual weapons, wear of strange device, 
Ay, faces of mankind before unguessed. 



Columbus, 47 

Ferdinand — It is amazing. It bids pondering. 
Usher [annoimcing] — The Bishop of Badajoz. 
Ferdinand— Bid him enter. 



Scene III. — T/ie sa-me. Fonseca. 

Fotiseca \to the sovereigns] — Your highnesses, I trusted 
to have brought 
These tidings first. \_Saluting Mendoza] A worthier is 

before me. 
In simple brevity, I wish you joy. 

Isabella — My lord controller, joy. The authority 
Which heretofore hath vested you in name 
Is with this great announcement grown most real. 

Fonseca [evasively] — There are some here — returners 
in the ship, 
Would gladly greet your graces with accounts. 

Isabella — Oh, let them come. 

Marchioness — And bid them not delay. 

Ferdi?tand — As many as seek entrance, one and all. 
[To Mendoza] Speed, cardinal, as far as Spain extends, 
Let Te Deum go up, let chimes praise heaven. 

Scene IV. — The same^ ivithout Mendoza. 

Isabella — Now, good Fonseca, we are all alive ; 
The letters — come, the letters. Bring them forth. 
Fonseca [with surprise] — The letters, madam ? 
Isabella — Ay, the admiral's. 

Fonseca — I had not heard the admiral — had written. 
Ferdinand — Not written ? That is strange. 
Isabella — Why — why not written ? 



48 Columbus. 

Fonseca [graz'e/y] — I am not of his counsel. Doubt- 
less, they 
Who speak his business will give reasons for it. 
Your graces, give me leave, my cares are urgent. 

[Offers to go. 
Isabella — Bishop, by no means. Is your zeal so frosty ? 
Fonseca — I come from entertainment to these people. 
And know their message. Pardon if my heart 
Protest, to hear the narrative twice spoken. 

Isabella — I comprehend you not at all, lord bishop, 
But this — you are controller, and must stay. 

[Fonseca resumes his seat. 
Usher [to both sovereigns, announcing^ — Your graces' 
servitors from over sea. 

Scene V. — The same. Ojeda, Marguerite, Roldan, 
Boyle. Ojeda exchanges with Fonseca, up07i entering, 
a signal of intelligence. 

Isabella [saluting each with cordiality] — Boyle, Roldan, 

Marguerite — welcome ! welcome ! 
Why, ye are swarter, or my sight betrays me. 
Than when ye chased the Moors with sword and plain 

song. 
Embrace me, good Ojeda — first to venture, 
And when return is glory, first in turning. 

Ojeda — My King, my Queen, our waywornness apart. 
Which, now 't is past, we reckon as a dream — 
We hold ourselves as favored beyond most, 
In name of rare discoveries, and in name 
Of Holy Church, through acts of faith there offered. 
To greet your graces — Sovereigns of the East ; 



Columbus. 



49 



By which high dignity we kneeling hail ye. 

[Thefotir kneel. 

Ferdinand — Such sorts of honor fall not oft to men 
To hold or proffer. Trust to our remembrance. 

Isabella — Ay, to our gratitude — and trust ye all. 

l^T/iey rise. 
Ojeda, tell us, as you love me, child — 
How went it with your voyage ? "Who first saw land ? 
Was it the admiral ? Would 't had been he ! 

Oj'eda [ivith forethought] — Madam, this voyage, indeed, 
was very sore, 
Even for tried seamen. Some there were — ay, many, 
Pressed on our admiral even for return. 
But in the moment of dejected purpose, 
He showed us, in the eastern sky — it was 
As hung the sun half-way 'twixt high and setting — 
A cloud ; and promised wind and land anon. 

Isabella [nodding] — 'T is a brave expert, child, that so 
predicts. 

Ojeda — Ere well the sails were loosed, the wind drove 
on, 
And blew us west, and held, as sank the sun, 
Unintermitted. Eve came ; it blew still. 
That night none courted sleep. Your grace's bounty — 
Ten thousand maravedis to be his 
Who first saw land, kept every mind awake ; 
To which, of his own means, the admiral 
Added a cloak of Genoa loom, three-ply. 
But with a fine — for shews had often vexed us — 
If any, falsely, should announce the land. 

Isabella — Generous and prudent. Come, this pleases us. 

Ojeda — I say none slept. The admiral, most alert. 



50 Columbtis. 

Paced his high deck until the middle watch ; 
When, as he looked, he saw — or thought he saw, 
But distant, o'er the water, here and yonder 
As in commotion — lights flit to and fro. 
Cautious, distrusting sense, he called to him 
Pedro Gutierrez, groom of the king's chamber, 
And Sanchez Roderigo of Segovia ; 
And Pedro saw the light. But, since it seemed 
He feared to trip upon his own forbidding, 
The admiral gave no sign. At two of dawn. 
One of the crew, Rodrigo de Triana, 
Saw the land near, cried out, and all was joy. 

Ferdinmid—'H is not so clear, the admiral having 
failed 
Of giving signal, whose the prize should be. 

Isabella \tvarmly\ — Oh, what more clear ? 'T was he 
first saw the lights. 
And he deserves the prize, and he shall have it. 

Marchioness — Ojeda, is the country there like ours ? 
I wonder what so strange a world may be. 

Isabella — Oh, come, Ojeda, say — the land, how looks 
it? 

Ojeda — There is no speech of mortals to express it. 
Heavenly the air, most crystalline the waves. 
The birds with their bright plumage like gay gardens. 
And in the tide glide fishes luminous, scaled ; 
No loveliness since Eden was like this. 

Isabella — Ojeda, are there plants of healing yonder ? 

Ojeda — All plants that carry crown. Stupendous ferns ; 
Fire-tinted orchids ; the cool, green pisang. 
Each blade a thatch ; palms and majestic cedars ; 
Refreshing fruits and every virtuous balsam. 



Columbus, 5 1 

Ferdinand — Is wealth of mineral there — is gold, Ojeda > 

Ojeda — As to the bride her gems add loveliness, 
So by their wealth these regions are enhanced. 
I 'd say, as heat of body vents itself 
In swelling veins and drippings at the pore, 
So, as indeed too full to hold themselves, 
These vales, at all their seams, ooze mammon forth. 

Ferdinand — Indeed, we are enamoured with this gold. 
Doubtless ye bring away a proper share. 
Although ye freighted but a single vessel. 

Ojeda — Indeed, my king — indeed — 

Ferdinand — Indeed, Ojeda ? 

Ojeda — My king, we come attesting with the word — 

Ferdinand — The word ? Ye bring no gold ? 

Ojeda — Oh, gold indeed — 
But scantily — till more be possible. 

Isabella \to the companions of Ojeda] — Speak, some of 
ye — this story is not out. 

Marguerite {taking the word] — Madam, I would 't were 
out — and happily. 
And that this glowing picture had no shadow. 

Isabella — Don Pedro, you distress me. Speak, and 
promptly. 

Marguerite \%vith reserve] — There was a man, not born 
to conscience — 
Whom yet it pleased your grace to ennoble ; 
What ye created in him, I revere ; 
What I shall seem to censure — is not yours. 

Ferdinand — Oh, my prophetic fears ! Speak on, Don 
Pedro. 

Marguerite — The voyage, Ojeda hath explained, was 
hard 



52 Columbus. 

Though for tried seamen. Most of all it wore 
Upon our young hidalgos, my companions. 
Cramped, cabined, put to fare unusual. 
Their spirits waned, their bodies took example. 
We landed. They were ghosts of men — not more ; 
Yet must a fort go up — a city follow. 

Ferdinand — Even for such service was the fleet 
equipped. 

Marguerite — The carpenters, and such artificers 
As should have labored, were in sore plight, — 
Ay, at death's door. It fell upon the nobles. 
Hidalgos — men of honor, must turn drudges, 
And shall I say upon whose ordering ? 

Ferdinand— ^Ql well. The business should have waited 
health. 

Marguerite — My story ends. Of all those gallant souls, 
Too nobly chivalrous, the fewest live. 

Marchioness — Oh, pity for the gallant gentlemen ! 

Isabella — Ay, pity. But the hardships of the voyage — 
The food unusual, you have said, Don Pedro, 
Hastened their end not less than lack of rest. 

Ferdi7iand—\ hold these knightly souls scarce pitiable. 
Since in the way of duty they succumbed. 
Yet, for the sequel, I do not perceive 
How bears Don Pedro's tale upon Ojeda's, 
Surely the treasure stayed— and hands were left. 

Roldan {taking the word^ — My liege, let me explain. 
The gold was left. 
And laborers that gladly would have delved ; 
We made a circle round the admiral 
And held our hands up, only to be sent. 

Ferdinand^K fair petition, doubtless fairly heard. 



Columbus, 53 

Roldan — Heard — oh, in sense most limited. Some 
score — 
The picked retainers of the admiral — 
Were chosen to the task, the rest disbanded. 

Ferdinand — But ye not in the mines — had ye no task ? 

Roldan — A superfluity of tasks was ours ; 
To every thing by turns our hands were set ; 
The land was fat enough, we would not swelter. 
The viceroy made an outcry. We divided — 
But all made prayer alike to see him humbled. 

Ferdinand — Oh, this is hard — it is intolerable. 
The land so full of good, that might have been 
A treasure making us an envied king — 
Lost — gone to wreck — a paradise of broils ! 

Isabella [zealously] — These men were vicious. The 
most generous heart 
Cannot control the vile. They grasped at wealth ; 
AVe knew Columbus' aim ; 't was more than lucre ! 
The higher gain of souls — if but in that — 

Marchioness — Oh, then, indeed, your grace will reap 
full harvest. 

Isabella — Come to it, friends, the people of the soil. 

Boyle [continuing the nai^rative] — Madam, as was the 
land, we found its tribes, 
Blameless inhabitants of that happier Eden. 
At eve they shared with us their simple feast ; 
All our delights were theirs, and all our sorrows. 

Isabella [with interest] — Oh, joy to light on natures so 
unspoiled. 
So pliant to each gentle benefit ! 

Boyle [musingly] — In these first days 't was mine to wel- 
come many — 



54 Columbtcs, 

And very hopeful, truly, in their views ; 
A little Zion in the solitude. 

Isabella — Blessings upon them, father, and on you ! 

Boyle \as before^ — How in our virgin garden, like ill 
weeds 
First rose dissensions, Roldan hath explained, 
Perhaps in wilder phrase than had been just. 
The men, disbanded, battled, tooth and nail ! 
First with each other ; then, for land and spoils. 
Against the natives, innocent as infants. 
Retaliation followed ; blood came of it. 
On this, the viceroy of your highnesses 
Gathers an army, sweeps with fire and sword — 
Suffer me, gentlest lady, to have done ; 
I loathe the scene and would not dwell on it. 

Isabella — Oh, direst falling off ! But they, your flock ? 

Boyle — My flock — oh, madam, they thai had been such 
Trampled the cross, and clutching their old gods 
Fled to the hills, amid whose caves they wander. 

Isabella [billerly] — My heart is rent in twain. But yet, 
not all 
Fell off ; a portion come with ye — are here ; 
Who said it — 't was the cardinal that saw them — 
A little remnant, at some happier hour 
To carry light to their sad countrymen. 

Boyle — Madam, no more — upon my knees I pray you ; 
What you have borne is bliss to what must follow. 

Isabella — Father, I have no guess what can be harder. 

Boyle — Indeed, a remnant of these islanders 
Are with the vessel, as Mendoza said ; 
'T was not to carry lights that they were chosen. 
If I must speak it, 't was the admiral's will 



Columbus, 55 

These gentle savages — his realm's first-fruits — 
Should here, conveniently, in Seville market. 
Be set at auction and struck off as slaves. 

Isabella [violently moved] — Slaves ? Human souls for 
slaves ? in Seville ? Spain ? 
Now, by the sacred majesty of kings ! 
As far hence as ye call this world Castile, 
There lives — Columbus ? — not a man there lives, 
To whom the Omnipotent hath given power 
To sell my people into slavery ! 
Oh, let him know — 

[S/ie makes a commanding gesture^ breaks off, hesitates^ 

and sinks back, weeping. 

— Woe ! Woe ! bear with me, Senors. 

Moya — Lean on me, madam, let not these that moved 

Your highness to this weakness witness it. [To the four] 

A little patience, friends ; she will be better. 

Ferdinand [addressing the adventurers] — Too plain hath 
been your story ; yet remain 
Points I would question further. Favor me. 

[He retires, followed by Marguerite, Boyle, and 
RoLDAN. O jeda, at a sign from Fonsec A, remains 
behind. 

Scene VI. — Fonseca ; Ojeda. 

Ojeda [indicating his companions] — Their recompense — 
Fonseca [giving papers] — Share these with whom you 

will. 
Ojeda [reading] — Prerogatives — 
Fonseca — To cruise the ocean seas. 
Ojeda — Signed by the sovereigns — 



56 Columbus, 

Fonseca — Countersigned, Fonseca. 
Ojeda [warmfy] — Father, if thanks — 
Fonseca — Another time, Ojeda. 

[ The king comes forward with the three ^ who are 
rejoined by Ojeda. 
Ferdinand [to the four compa7iions\ — Go, ye that met us 
with so glad a welcome, 
Alas, not gladly. Justice shall be done, 
Wherein your services pass not forgotten. 

[The four depart. 

Scene VII. — The sanie^ without Ojeda, Marguerite, 
RoLDAN, and Boyle. The Marchioness of Moya is 
occupied with the queen apart. The king continues 
moodily with Fonseca. Ferdinand ; Fonseca. 

Ferdinand [quickly] — Bishop, this touches us. It 

touches Spain. 
Fonseca — The hand that clothed with favor can make 

bare. 
Ferdinand — Ay, and shall do it. Name the man, 

Fonseca. 
Fonseca [with a moment's thought] — Francesco Boba- 

dilla were deserving. 
Ferdinand — De Bobadilla — knight of Calatrava ? 
Fonseca — Commander of the order. He is zealous. 
Ferdinand [calls] — Ho ! Some one ; you without there 

—ho ! 
Usher — Your grace. 

Ferdinattd — Francis de Bobadilla — send for him. 
If he be in the palace, bid him hither ; 
If need be, in his gown. If journeyed hence, 
Postilions, relays, have him sought, and quickly. 



Colicmbtcs, 5 7 

Francis de Bobadilla — fly, produce him. [ Usher goes. 

Bishop, advise us, there are drafts to pen. 

[ The king takes his seat at the writing-desk j he is at- 
tended by Fonseca. The queen, leaning upon the 
Marchioness of Moya, comes forward. 

Scene VIII. — Isabella ; The Marchioness. 

Isabella \_faintly'] — Oh, Moya. 

Marchioness — Madam, take it less to heart. 

Isabella — If he had stretched authority a jot. 
So 't were to benefit, I had ne'er protested ; 
But this — oh, this ! 

Marchioness — Nay, seek another fancy. 

Isabella — You saw him, Moya — heard him, with those 
lips 
From which it seemed a heavenly genius sued. 
Of souls he spake — oh, dearly of the faith — 
Of things whereof Christ's minister would scarce. 
Save on occasion, hint. 

Marchioness — Madam, be calm. 

Isabella \bitterly\ — And what has come of it ? A ship 
of slaves. 
There have been trusting women in the world. 
And trusting queens before ; but like to me, 
Trusting, deceived — oh, never queen nor woman. 
For all his freight of souls, a ship of slaves ! 

Marchioness — Madam, this tries you. There will come 
a day 
When this great mariner, who now is wronged, 
Will have his justice, even from your hand. 

Isabella — Wronged, Moya — wronged ? Why, who are 
witness to it ? 



58 Cohtmbus. 

The entire fleet — the colony, one and all. 

Marchioness — Madam, not all, his very self excepted. 
Isabella — What could he say, more than the rest have 

spoken ? 
Marchioness — Much he might say. He has not even 

written. 
Isabella — Oh, well he wrote not ; and, though he should 
plead, 
'T would but pile up distraction. Wretched men ! 
Marchioness [caressingly] — Madam, dear Isabel, we 
were girls together. 
And when we grew, a lover, not your due, 
Not loved by you — nay, hated, — sued for you ; 
You swore that you would rather die than wed him — 
Upon the cross I bound myself to kill him. 
Isabella [moved] — And would have done it ! 
Marchioness — Would I not ? 
Isabella [embracing her] — Since then, 
You are my gentlest angel, more than sister ; 
Whatever darkens me, from you is lighted. 

Marchioness — Dear lady, once again, as when blithe 
maidens, 
Trust me now we are grown and wear state ; 
I cannot answer how our friend is wronged, 
But this I feel, that you will set him right. 

Isabella — Hope not of darkness ! Faithfullest, but for 
you — 

[They are rejoined by Ferdinand and Fo7iseca. 
Ferdinand [to the queen] — Madam, there are some writ- 
ings to be signed. 
[ The king and queen ivithdraw together j Fonseca and 
the Marchioness remain alone. 



Coltimbtis. 59 

Scene IX. — Fonseca ; Marchioness. 

Marchioness [she darts a searching^ mistrustful glance at 

her cotnpaniony to which he remains impassive^ and 

then speaks\ — A sorry accusation, my Lord Bishop. 

Fonseca — The man was nought. He has been fairly 

judged — 
Marchioness — By few. Columbus' judgment is to 

come. 
Fonseca — And, upon judgment, justly is condemned — 
Marchioness — But not to any pains of your election. 
Fonseca — Therefore he falls. 
Marchioness — Therefore his fame is spotless. 
[ With the same searching gaze~\ Lord Bishop, know you 

men that bind themselves 
To unmeet burdens, then, in trial's hour. 
Break from their chief, and cast on him the blame ? 
Fonseca — Lady, a question that ill suits your lips. 
\^The king and queen come forward with papers. They 
resume their former places. 
Ferdinand [with i7npatience'\ — Comes not our messen- 
ger ? He tarries long. 
Usher \annoimci7ig\ — Francesco de Bobadilla de Cala- 
trava. 

Scene X. — The same j Ferdinand ; Isabella ; Boba- 
dilla. 

Isabella — Francis de Bobadilla, you are called 
To delicate functions. In the port of Pales 
A ship lies, from a world unnamed, unknown. 
Another weighs, to-morrow, for that shore — 
In which you sail. Betwixt our present viceroy. 



6o Columbus, 

Don Cristoval Columbus, and his fleet, 

Troubles — painful dissensions — are arisen. — 

— I hold two writs, badged with Castilian arms, 

In yellow, one, and one vermilion. 

The golden seal commissions you at large ; 

It owns the pregnant quality to be first ; 

As such, present it to our admiral. — 

The dauntless red blazens your right to judge 

Betwixt the viceroy and the accusing parties. 

And oh \she pauses^ then with greater efnphasis], if there 

be any loop to link 
Half a suspicion that he has not erred — 
Hang chains upon the knaves that have maligned him, 
And speed them toward Spain in what flies quickest. — 
— Mark this, the ruby seal has second rank, 
And weighs, the first discharged, above all others. 

Bobadilla [taking the writs] — Madam, my memory shall 
be adamant. 

Ferdiftand — If, as we fear, the admiral have offended 
Against the crown and his subordinates, 
Lo, the broad seal of Arragon, to which 
The injunctions added will empower you 
To confiscate his goods, to claim of him 
The keys of all his cities, harbors, forts. 
This writ is third ; and as the third present it, 
— The last, our narrower seal — which must, indeed, 
Show for its predecessors all the three — 
In place of him whose lack you shall have proven. 
Appoints yourself high admiral and viceroy. 

Bobadilla [as before] — Sire, the weight of that you lay 
on me 
I heed ; and am, in faithfulness, your own. 



Columbus. 6 1 

Ferdina?id \to the bishop] — Fonseca, these poor victims 
— I am moved ; 
Let those who will abide here, at our charge ; 
Who in to-morrow's vessel will return, 
Have licence filled for them. [A bell.] Madam, to vespers. 
Fonseca {indicating Bobadilla] — Sire — a word yet with 
this gentleman. 
l^Ferdinand gives his escort to the queen. They go out 
attejided by the Marchioness. Bobadilla remains^ 
engrossed in contetnplation of his papers. 

Scene XI. — Fonseca ; Bobadilla. 

Fonseca [after observing his companion for some time with 
an amused glance] — Don Francis, you hold honors. 
Heed your play. 
[Bobadilla continues wrapped in cogitation. Fonseca 
approaches him. 
I say, don Francis, you are flush of honors ; 
The mighty four which work me in your hand — 
Ace, king, and queen, and knave, you hold them all. 
Bobadilla \ivith amazement] — I hold four papers, sealed 

with several seals. 
Fonseca — The very honors. Mark you, Bobadilla : — 
Say you have played your king — it is the third. 

Bobadilla [perplexed] — This, badged with the broad 

seal of Arragon ? 
Fonseca — Then you hold queen, that is the yellow seal. 
Bobadilla — That should be first. 
Fo?iseca — 'T is second in your play. 
Say you have played it. Still there are two left. 
Bobadilla — Why, tliat were ace and knave. 



62 Cokmibus, 

Fonseca — Precisely they. 

Bohadilla [impatient] — I see not yet the drift. What 

is 't we play for ? 
Fonseca — Ace, knave. You throw the knave — the red 

Castile— 
Bobadilla — The second ? 
Fo7iseca — Third. The winning ace remains. 
Bobadilla— ThQ last ? 

Fonseca — You show it — and the board is swept. 
Bobadilla— ThQ stakes ? 

Fonseca \_with a quick glance] — High admiralship — vice- 
royalty. 
Bobadilla [shrinkifig back] — I call your winning ace a 

losing knave. 
Fonseca — I call a losing knave not Avorth the stakes. 
Bobadilla [musing] — Bishop — you have put wheels into 

my brain. 
Fonseca [with a gesture] — 'T is well. There let them 

turn. Good-day, don Francis ! 
[He takes the knight by the handy presses it blandly ^ and 

departs. Bobadilla gazes after him in stupefaction. 

Scene XII. — Bobadilla ; alone. 

[Balancing his papers] Say he be guilty, then farewell to 

queen : 
Say he be innocent — my king is lost. 
Ace, knave, remain. [Deliberates] Win not the ace, 

't were well. 
If not the ace should win, but scurvy knave — 
Then were the knave in Bobadilla's hide. — 
[ With suddeti resolution^ Where cogitation fails, let 

chance decide. [He goes. 



ACT IV. 

THE NEW WORLD ; A SETTLEMENT. 

J'o the left are seen the walls and entrance of a fortress ; 
to the right a tropical grove. Betweefi these the extreme 
distance is closed by the ocean. Toward the middle distance 
is visible the sea-coast, which, bending inward, forms a har- 
bor. The foreground is occupied by an esplanade, abutting 
upon the fortress, to which ^t'ays converge from several 
directions. 

Scene I. — Guevara : Requelm {colonists^ They come 
from the direction of the grove, and examine, with at- 
tention, the road leading to the fortress, after ivhich they 
withdraw under cover of the grove. Then Rodrigo 
Perez, an officer of the guard, and Alguazils, escort- 
i?ig Anacaona and Higuenamota. They come from 
the opposite direction, and pass in the direction of the 
fort. 

Perez [to the officer] — Halt ! Give your charger rest. 
Follow ye, hence, 
Alone the way. The port is near and sure. 

Requelm [coming forward with Guevara\ — Plunderers, 

give up your booty — it is ours ! 
Guevara — Give up your spoils, ye ravishers of women ! 

[Both draw their weapons. 
63 



64 Cohunbus, 

Perez \dravnng\ — Requelm ! Guevara ! In the name 

of law 

Requelm — Go prate of law to him that festers yonder. 

[ They engage. 

Scene II. — The same : Bobadilla. He comes from the 
direction of the port, and is attended by a trumpeter, a 
gaoler, a crier, a notary, and guards. At his appear- 
ance the disputants drop their weapons. He regards 
thein with a self-important mien, then speaks. 

Bobadilla — Sirs, for a knight-commissioner de facto, 
Viceroy that may be, this is scurrilous greeting. 
Heard ye the thunder of our culverine ? 
No scantiest echo here from port nor port, 
But ways encumbered with festering dead, 
And ye, about to add to carrion. 
What are ye, who, but for your broils, seem Spanish ? 
[Regarding the wome7i, who endeavored to cast them- 
selves at his feet, hut are prevented by the Alguazils. 
What lovely birds are these, in painted plumes ? 
They seem by eloquent signs to claim protection. 
[To Perez^ You, sir, in soldier garb, your name, your 
business ? 
Perez. — Rodrigo Perez, captain to Columbus ; 
On whose injunctions I conduct these women — 
Wherefore I know not — yonder to his port. 

Bobadilla [to Guevara and Requelni] — Why hinder ye 

this brave man, sirs, so rashly ? 
Guevara [sheathing his sword^ — For weightiest reasons, 
both of law and nature. 
The wealthiest in this isle was Caonabo, 



Columbus. 65 

Lord of the Golden Mountain — a great king. 
Anacaona, of these dames the elder, 
Sister to Behechio, chieftain of the West, 
Was Caonabo's consort. Through the land, 
The only form of charms to vie with hers 
Was Higuenamota's, her most lovely child. 
The younger of these twain — and my betrothed. 
My name is called Hernando de Guevara ; 
Pedro Requelm, here, is my sworn friend. 

Bobadilla [again surveying the captives] — Strange royalty, 
indeed, but let it pass, 
[To Guevara'] How chances it you claim your bride by 

force ? 
Speak, sir, for we are powerful in these parts, 

Guevara — I say the brother of this queen, Behechio, 
Was lord of Xaraguay — the flowery West. 
There, in a solitude embowered quite 
In all that can affect the soul to love, 
I won the wild heart of this island maiden. 
While still I tarry, comes, from yonder port. 
Order from him that lords it over us. 
To quit my station, to renounce my wife. 
Alone, unable to resist, I send 
Both bride and mother-in-law, to be the safer, 
To a strong garrison port of Moxica's. 

Bobadilla [with interest] — Adrian de Moxica 1 

Guevara — The same ; my cousin. 

Bobadilla — Why, Moxica and I were mates together 
At Salamanca. Joy 't will be to meet him ! 

Guevara [with emotioit] — Ah, me ! I say I sent them 
both. 
Myself on love's swift courier following. 



66 Cohtmbus, 

Vain all my speed. Upon my kinsman's hearth 
Smouldered the brands of ashes not domestic ; 
He and his guests alike doomed to destruction, 
Torn from their homestead — ravished to the port. 

\He pauses. 
Bohadilla — A gay new world and most combustible ! 
Guevara \7'ecovering\ — Then drawing sword I called this 
friend to me, 
And swore by every oath that either knew 
To save, while time sufficed, both kin and bride. — 
— Alas ! alas ! too late for Adrian — \with a shudder?^ 
His limbs corrode, a horror to the port. 

Bobadilla \zmth concer7i\ — The sight out yonder, he 

that hangs in chains — 
Requeb7i — Was Moxica. If e'er you were his friend — 
Bobadilla {dropping his wice]— Oh, lad, that flesh of 
thine should fatten crows ! 
[ To the Iwo] Who was it, sirs, that put him to his end ? 
Requelm — A sorry tale to tell ; 't would sadden you. 
Bobadilla — We are for inquest here, and bound to hear it. 
\As Requelm begins his narrative, Miguel Balle- 
STER comes, unperceived,fro7n the fort. He remains, 
within heari?tg distaiice, silent but attentive. 
Requelm \nnth an assailing glance at the fortress^ — 
x\bove this gloomy gate, whose stones, though fresh, 
Can testify to horrors, they set up 
The tree of doom. Upon a tribune sate, 
]\Iuffled in scarlet cloak — the same he wore 
Upon our landing day — the admiral. 
Bobadilla — Oh, pass all else, and come to Adrian. 
Requelm — He, bathed in tears which move to ansvv^er- 
ing tears 



Cohunbus. 67 

The executioner's soul — but his alone, 
Demands his shrift. The man in scarlet cloak — 
Whose grasp, e'er now, hath twisted marlin' spikes — 
Hustles him headlong to eternity. 

Bobadilla \_appaned'\ — Unshriven — unabsolved ? 

Requehji — Without his shrift. 

Bobadilla — Fonseca, now thine honors stead me well ! 

Scene III. — The same. Ballester. 

Ballester {stepping forward^ — Requelm, better bite thy 
tongue a bit, 
Only by way of hint it leave off lying. 
We lost some desperadoes — they were white 
As sucking babes — compared with Moxica. 
Therefore he hung, ay, yonder, as thou prat'st ; 
Not by the admiral's hand. The eyes that saw 
That villany were not in Requelm's head. 

Bobadilla {measuring Ballester with his eye] — A very 
mettlesome graybeard — his calling ? 

Guevara — Lieutenant to the admiral — Ballester. 

Bobadilla — Master lieutenant, should we judge your 
wit. 
Such as comports but half-way with your years. 
Go hence, announce our coming to your betters. 
We are Don Francis Bobadilla, sir, 
Knight advocate, grand cross of Calatrava, 
Here present as commissioner of the crown ; 
And we have power to deal with all transgressors, 
And speed them towards Spain in what flies quickest. 

Bobadilla {apart] — Pattern of courtesy ! {aloud] I shall 
bear the message. {Ballester goes. 



68 Columbus. 

Scene IV. — The same, 7^;/////^?// Ballester. 

Bobadilla \to Perez] — Captain, convey yon women to 

the fort. 
Perez [hesitating] — I am enjoined to bear them — 
Bobadilla— To the fort ! 

[Perez and his charge withdraw within the fortress. 
Guevara, Requelm, sit more friends of yours 
In custody ? 

Guevara — M any. 

Bobadilla — They shall be released ; 
Go hence and tell them so from Bobadilla. 

[Guevara and Requebn, with a low salutation to Boba- 
dilla, enter the fortress. 

Scene V. — Bobadilla, notary, crier, trujnpeter., and 
guards. 

Bobadilla — Blow, trumpeter ; you, crier, call a court. 

[ Trumpet blown. 
Crier [calling] — Hear ye, hear ye, all people of the 
Spains — 
People of the New World, attend, attend ! 

Scene VI. — The same. People of the colony. 

They assemble from all directiotis and in great numbers, 
until the scene is full. Among them a surveyor and an 
assayer of the mines, 7:'ith 7niners, fishermen, farmers, 
builders^ Alguazils, seamen^ and vagabonds. Lastly ^Espinoza, 
cook to Columbus. 

Miners — Who is it come ? 

Fari?iers — A crown's commissioner. 



Columbus, 69 

Sea?fien — His business, mates ? 
Vagabonds — To save our necks from hanging. 
Bobadilla \to the assembly; he holds in his hand a paper to 
tvhichy at times ^ he refers^ — Good friends, we are depu- 
ted by the crown 
To hear your grievances, and to redress them. 
\^To the vagabonds^ You that seem most in need, what is 
your hardship ? 
Vagabond. — Sir, lack of labor. In the mines our 
master 
Would not endure it, in the fields 't was we. 
Bobadilla [to Espinoza\ — Thou hugest of Amontalado 

bretts 

Espinoza — I am Espinoza, chief of the viceroy's kit- 
chen. 
And know how famine clings to his domestics. 

Bobadilla [regarding hini\ — Cxreat Bobadilla, hast thou 
once been fatter ? 
[To thepeople'\ Now, what is further to your liking, friends ? 
Miners — Our pay ! 
Builders — Our pay ! 
Algtcazils — We have no pay ! 
Fishermen — No pay ! 

Bobadilla [to the miners^ — You brawny lads that would 
and could not work, 
Have general liberty for twenty years ; 
You that were taxed a third, pay the eleventh. 

[Demonstrations of applause. He enjoins silence by 
a gesture. 
Now, for your debts, ye claimants of the crown, 
Stand to the right ; ye of the colony, 
To left ; Columbus' creditors in the midst. 



70 Cohtmbus, 

[ The people stand in three groups. He surveys them 
severally. 
You to the right, have payment out of hand 
In coinage of the realm ; you to the left, 
In ore, or land, or produce, as you list. 
You in the midst receive threefold your dues 
From confiscated gains of the viceroy. 
The articles are chosen. We answer for it. 

[ Tumultuous cries of approbation. Bobadilla returns 
the paper he has held^ takes from the 7iotary another^ 
on which the latter has been writing., and examines it. 
Farmers — Save Bobadilla ! 
Seamen — Save the sovereigns ! 
Miners — No debts ! free labor ! 
Alguazils — Over, the admiral ! 
Fishermen — Over, monopolies ! 
Builders — To work ! to work ! 

[ The croivd disperse in haste., until nofte but Espinoza 
and the vagabonds remain. 
Vagabonds \casti71g themselves on the ground^ — Work you 

that will. We are too stout for it, 
Espinoza [imitating thcni\ — I '11 keep you company, for 

I 'm too lean. 
Bobadilla [to the notary] — Notary, we will revise this 
list with you. 
[Bobadilla with his attendants withdraw apart. At a 
signal from Espijioza a part of the vagabonds hurry 
off in the direction of the port. Bobadilla^ i?i confer- 
ence with the notary y and followed by his attendants y 
comes forward. 
Bobadilla [to the notary] — Mark off the several charges 
as corrected. 



Coliinihis. 71 

\^To the 7nob\ Fellows, is it your admiral that comes ? 
Espinoza — No, it 's the parson. [Aside] Talk to him — 
he '11 bless you. 

Scene VII. — The same; Diego Columbus, arriving 
from the fortress, 

Diego \to Bobadillo] — For what has been informal, from 
my brother, 
I frankly beg your pardon, Don Francisco. 
An illness held him to his couch, from which 
'T is hard for him to rise ; yet he will venture. 
Meanwhile, he sends me humbly in his name 
To bid you welcome to our infant world. 

BobadiUa [during his speech he takes from the notary 
the few papers with their seals zahieh, i?i the previous 
Acty he had received from the sovereigns, selects one, and 
retains it, returning the rest] — Senor Alcalde, one was 

here from you. 
Who bore to you, at large, our cause of coming. 
To you, especially, as standing here 
In person of your brother Cristoval, 
I am to reach this greeting from the crown. 

[Gives him the paper, watching his countenance ivith 
attention, — [Aside] Fair flies the shaft, and fledged ! My 
red Castile. 
Diego [in a tone of satisfaction after examining the writ- 
ing] — Oh, you are come to render justice here, 
To judge betwixt ourselves and our accusers. 
The crown hath sent an umpire truly welcome, 
And we surmise, at least, upon whose instance. 
BobadiUa [bitterly] — Ah, you surmise, alcalde — you sur- 
mise. 



72 Columbus, 

Diego — Those sorry men that took our ships away 
And then berated us — their tale, I trust, 
Has not found credence in an ear of Spain. 

Bobadilla — Their tale hath found no credence, sir, in 
Spain, 
Which your next vicinage hath not supported. 
We stand upon these shores yet scarce an hour. 
And our first office is to bid of you 
Delivery of your forts and prisoners. 

Diego \niildly\ — Of forts, hereafter. For the pris- 
oners — 
We can release them. You are here for judgment, 
And they must witness ere you can decide. 

Bobadilla — What of decisions ? sir, fantastical. 
All is decided ; we demand the men. 

Diego — Ye saints that dwell above the patient skies. 
Be very present. \^To Bobadilla'] — Sir, I cannot help you. 
My brother is adelantado here ; 
I am alcalde. If from him you gain it, 
Why, heaven be with you. As for me, I cannot. 

Bobadilla [threateningly] — Then I must say, sir 

Diego — Not to me ; beseech you ; 
My brother comes. Reserve your mood for him. 

[He retires toward the fortress. At the sa^ne moment., 
from the direction of the port, the vagabonds deputed 
return^ laden with horns and rusty implemetits of all 
sorts, which they distribute among their compa7iions. 
This done, they lie down upon the ground as before, 
partly concealed by the grove. Meanwhile, Bartholo- 
mew Columbus, co?ning froin the fortress, advances 
with his brother. Bobadilla, ere saluting, eyes the 
former with a inistrustful glance. 



Columbus. 73 

Scene VIII. — The same. Bartholomew Columbus. 

Bartholoj?ieiv \saluting Bohadilla stiffly\ — To all, fair 
greeting from the admiral. 
He rallies slowly from consuming fever, 
Yet bids me welcome those who would be welcome. 
BobadiUa \apart\ — The wolf-hound's temper glares 

from this man's eye. 
Diego \J1a71di71g to Bartholomew the writing he has re- 
ceived from Bobadilla\ — Brother, Don Francis Bob- 
adiUa comes, 
With kindly patents, in the cause of justice. 

Bartholomew [coldly, after having co7i7ied the paper^^ — He 
that has eye to justice, prospers better 
Through quieting sedition than through ruffling. 

BobadiUa [to Bartholomeiv\ — Sefior Adelantado, we are 
told 
You hold authority. We too have such. 
And claim of you your forts and prisoners. 

Bartholomeiv — I hold authority, and over me 
Is more authority — that is my brother : 
And over him, the crown. What will you, sir ? 

BobadiUa — The keys of your strong places, ports, and 

cities. 
Bartholo/new [regarding him fixedly] — Save for my 
brother, this land had not been ; 
Save for my brother, you had not stood here — 
An interloping stranger whom I know not. 

BobadiUa [aside] — His gaze belies him not, the man is 
rabid. 
[He signs to the notary who presents him again with 
the sealed papers. He selects a second. 



74 Cohwibiis, 

[To Bariholotneiv\ — Whether your boldness spring from 

truth or error, 
Upon perusal, let this writ apprise you. 

\Hands hivi the paper. 
[Aside, with intent observation^ My broad-badged Arra- 
gon — that, too, is barbed. 

Bartholomew [examines the 7vriting, compares it with the 
first, which he still holds j then with suppressed ire] — Don 
Francis Bobadilla, when I find 
A thing in nature that belies itself, 
For me, ' t is nought. The paper in my hand 
Commissions you in charge of forts and harbors. 
The former, laid but now before my brother, 
Makes you a deputy of law, empowered 
To summon witnesses and frame decisions. — 
Where is the third which reconciles these two ? 
Till I know that, I rate you for a cypher. 

Bobadilla [frigidly^ — More than is in your hand, I an- 
swer not. 

Bartholomew — Take back your papers — take them back, 
I say, 
I comprehend them not, nor you that bring them ; 
But this, my brother that has set me here 
Is very high — yes, higher than us both ; 
And till he order it, you get no fortress. 

Bobadilla [with heat] — Give out your prisoners ! 

Bartholomeiv [doggedly] — They are my wards. 

Bobadilla — Give up your keys ! 

Bartholemew — To him that gave them me. 

Bobadilla [with passion] — Bystanders, witness it ; he 
defies the crown ! 
Give me an arm against him. Trumpeter, blow : 



Cokcmbtis. 75 

Speed, runner, to my caravel ; bid Villejo, 
With alguazils, haste instantly. Help, people ! 

S^The runner hastens off. The trumpet., blown icith 
a loud blast, Is responded to by the tu7nultuous up- 
roar of the mob. Spectators., alarmed by the outcry, 
appear from within upon the fortress. 
Vagabonds — Down gates ! 
Others — Down tyranny ! 
Others — Down foreigners ! 

[Bartholomew draws his sword, zuhile Diego supplicates 
the mob with gestures of appeal. Suddenly the gates 
of the fortress are thrown open. Coliunbus is seen 
leaning upon the arm of Ballester. He comes for- 
ward with evident feebleness. At his approach 
the tumult subsides. 

Scene IX. — The same: Columbus; Ballester; At- 
tendants. 

Columbus — Thanks, Miguel ; my steps are firmer 
now — 

Yet stand you by [with an inquiring glance around], 
Brother Bartholomew, 

Are we discourteous ? What knight receives 

In arms, the envoy of his sovereigns ? 

(To Bobadilla) Sir, pardon, illnesses have made me slug- 
gard. 

Seas, suns, my years, the trials of my office. 

For some time weaken me. I grow home-weary. 

Bobadilla [with involuntary awe — aside] — This is the 
man. He seems not such as I 

Have known mankind aforetime. [Aloud] Noble sir. 

Our coming is to you. We cherish hope 



76 Columbus. 

It will not prove unwelcome. As you say — 
And as our eyes reluctantly attest — 
Anxieties of place have vv^orn on you. 
We trust you will breathe easier for release. 

Columbus — Release — from office ? That must come 

with death. 
Bobadilla — You have lived many years — these latter 

ones 
Rifer with occupation than the most. 
Well, were it not, you seized some little space 
On the far threshold of a walk so long, 
Ere stepping over, to have peace with heaven ? 

Cohimbtts \absently\ — An ague works in me. I have 

not followed. 
Bobadilla \apari\ — Since out it must, the better for 

us both. 
\Aloud^^ Don Cristoval Columbus — and in sooth, 
I blush to say it to your years and station — 
A very dark account is at your door. 
All the transgressions of your government ; 
Barbarity to natives of the soil, 
Reckless abuse of treasure, tyrannies, 
And arrogances worse than tyranny 
To high and low — have come before the throne. 
It is the pleasure of their graces, sir. 
That neither you be suffered, nor your house, 
From this time forward any more to govern. 
As voice of that intention, I am here, 
And bid of you, as my most urgent function. 
Even as you stand, your staff and seals of office, 

Columbus [feebly] — Assure me some of ye — are these 

my hands? 



ColiLmbiis. J J 

Is this my brow ? Am I Columbus ? Why, 
The seals are mine. Who is this empty man ? 
I do not know him. Ay — the seals are mine. 
I had them from my sovereigns with dear love — 
\^Loftily\ And not to any subject I resign them. 
Bobadilla — Subjects, my lord, are all beneath the 
throne ; 
Yet let your inexperience fancy not 
In me a subject meaner than yourself. 
See, sir, a master in me — subject, you. 

Columbus — Maybe that I grow blind — I fail to see it. 
Bobadilla \He takes from the notary a third of the sealed 
papers^ and hands it to the crier^ — Ho, crier, give 
this parchment to the air. 
[Aside] My lesser Arragon — the game 's well played ; 
With one more master-stroke the stakes fall in. 

[ Trumpet blown. 
Crier [reads] — '^ Know all Spain in the issuer of this writ, 
Francis de Bobadilla, our Viceroy 
And Admiral of our new main and isles ; 
To whom, as such, yield deference." Save the sovereigns ! 
People [assembling and dispersing] — Prosper the sov- 
ereigns ! 
Others — Prosper the viceroy ! 
Diego — Amazement ! 
Bartholomew — Treachery ! 

Bobadilla [regarding Columbus, who stands speechless j 
aside] — That pride is broken ; [aloud] — It was 
your will to hear ; well, you have heard. 
Open the gates not yours ; humble yourself, 
Colmnbus [collecting himself with effort] — Stranger, there 
was a time my princes loved me — 



78 Colunihts. 

And so assured me of it that I wept. 

Then, I was flush in promise — nought accomplished ; 

Since then, I have kept promise beyond bound. 

How follows it — I cannot find it follow — 

That noiv they should withdraw their love from me, 

When I am broken and cannot give much ? 

That logic were perplexing. — Let it pass. — 

[ With firmer voice\ Likings are planets — they have revo- 

lution. 
A thing there is fixed as the pole itself — 
Immutable, eternal — it is justice. 
The solemn compact hath divinity, 
And, sir, my rights are covenanted. Come — 
I think that bargain stands, in spite of you. 

Bobadilla — Sir, to what may tend this argument ? 

Columbus — To this : — I have a faith in kings and 
queens, 
If they be unperverted and fair human ; 
And, sir, I speak it frankly — touching this, 
I cannot j udge but that my wits are turned. 
The foul miasmas that distress us here 
Mount ofttimes to the brain, and festering there, 
Abuse the powers of reason, turning dreams 
Too dreadful for sane health, to verities ; 
And, sir, it seems to me I suffer so. 
If I be barely sound, then in yourself 
The Atlantic passage breeds insanity. 
T shall not doubt, except on larger showing. 
The crowns of Spain can swerve from equity. 

Bobadilla — The evidence, sir, you have conflicted with 
Had overwhelmed an average intellect. 

\He takes from the notary the last paper. 



Columbus. 79 

Through which of the senses you are vulnerable 
I cannot guess. Let this essay your eyes. 
[Aside.] My winning ace, and crown to the full game. 
Columbus \he endeavors to steady the paper j then passes 
it to Bartholoineiii] — There swims a blot before 
me — read it, brother. 

[Bartholomew takes the writifig. 
These yellow quarterings bear Castilian arms. 

Columbus — Pass by the seal, and let us know its spirit, 
Bartholomew [opens the paper, reads j then ivith agitated 
voice] — Alas, this writing is of fatal tenor. 
It runs from both the sovereigns to your person. 
Bids you receive the bearer as themselves, 
And yield to his commands in every sense. 

Columbus [faltering] — To Bobadilla — yield — in every 

sense ? 
Bartholoniew — Alas, it is too fairly written so. 
Columbus — But is it signed ? Look, brother — is it 

signed ? 
Bartholomew — *T is drafted in due form and is sub- 
scribed. 
Columbus [ifitently] — By both the sovereigns — Bartholo- 
mew ? 
Bartholo?fiew — Brother, by both. 

Columbus — Brother the queen's name there ? 

Bartholomeiv — Alas ! alas ! 

Cohwibus [quickly snatching the paper] — I '11 never credit 
it! 
Give me the writ — there 's jugglery in this. 

Bartholomew — Her very hand ; let your eyes start at it. 
Columbus [peering on the tvriting] — Mine — his, and — 
hers — it is unfathomable. 



8o Cohcmbus, 

Bartholomew — Some infamy was in the getting of it. 
Columbus \he lets fall the paper and sinks heavily upon 
the arm of Ballester] — I had not thought to bear 
a stroke like this. 
\^JIe continues for some time speechless, then slowly recov- 
ering himself y he gathers up the paper, and addresses 
Bobadilla with great vehemence. 
Boaster, thou shalt see heaven, tell me only 
Thou hadst this writing from a menial. 

Bobadilla — I had it from the throne — immediately. 
Colu77ibus — Then from the king. The rolling orbs may 
fall, 
Not Isabel betray the man she trusted. 
Complete thy speech, and say 't was from the king. 
Bobadilla — Since 't was from both, what matters it 

from which ? 
Columbus — Matters ? to you it matters not a whit ; 
To me it matters above hosts of stars. 
All that hath made me more than else I were, 
Yea, an assurance that was life to me 
When I was haggard almost to the end ; 
The gracious presence of a queen enthroned. 
And yet not royal more than womanly, 
Nor either than divine — a bright Madonna 
Haloed about the brow, with winning lips. 
Soothing away all bitterness of storm, 
Making each wilderness a heavenly clime. 
Whether these cherished dreams be emptiness — 
That much it matters. Will you answer me ? 

Bobadilla — Clamor but loud enough, the skies will 

answer. 
Columbus — Answer me, sir, and see that thou lie not. 



Coliimbtcs. 8 1 

Whether thy goods be lucre, titles, power, 

All idols fashioned by destroying craft — 

Or if thou bend alone to the most High — 

I charge thee to respond, and that most truly ; 

For if a film of fraud gloss to thy tongue, 

A deity that is within me here 

Betrays thee to me ; and thou shalt discover, 

Although these arms are aged and fever-shrivelled. 

They still have strength to pitch thee to yon sea 

And hold thee there immersed until thou strangle. 

Tell me — hadst thou this paper from the king ? 

Bobadilla \i'€treating\ — As heaven shall judge — I had 

it from the queen. 
Columbus [smking back] — The sun within the heavens 

hath gone out ! 
Henceforth there is no gratitude among men. — 

Bobadilla [to his guard, after contemplating Colwnbus] — 
Speed, one of ye, bid Villejo haste his coming. 

Columbus [feebly] — Alas, why haste ye so ? It hath 

been long 
My yearning to see home. I had begged leave 
To take myself and cares on board your vessel. 

Bobadilla [after a sign to one of his retinue] — Sir, your 

intention is forestalled by ours. 
We have designed that you return, and quickly. 
But not with honor. That is forfeited. — 
People of the New Spains : for his offences 
We here arrest the person of this man, 
Cristoval Columbus, to be laid in chains 
And hence transmitted for the crown's disposal. — 
[To the Gaoler] You with the manacles, produce them. 
Gaoler [coming foi'ward] — Here. 



82 Columbus. 

Bobadilla — Approach and bind them on, in the law's 

name. 
Bartholo7new — Now, by my father's soul, if you attempt 

it — 
Diego — For the sweet love of heaven, revoke the order. 
Bobadilla — Ye are yourselves as guilty. Guards, con- 
duct 
The kinsmen of the admiral to the ships. 

Bartholomew \drawing\ — That we shall argue. 
Columbus \rivith a look of appeal^ — Brother — for my 
sake. 
{^Bartholomeiv returns his iveapon. The tivo brothers 
are led away. 

Scene X. — The sa?ne j without Bartholomew and 
Diego. 

Bobadilla — Gaoler, in the crown's name, bind on the 

irons. 
Ballester [to Bobadilla^ — Don Bragadocio, let me tell 

you, sir — 
Bobadilla — Master lieutenant, will your tongue be 

silent ? 
[To the Gaoler'] Gaoler, thine office — in the crown's 

name. 
Gaoler \approaching with his implements, then drawing 

back"] — Sir — 
Bobadilla — Thou laggest, and art yet a gaoler ? 
Gaoler [u'ith the same motio?i\ — Sir — 
Bobadilla— WqW, sir ? 
Gaoler [casting down the manacles] — I cannot. There 's 

an end of it. 



Cohimbits. 83 

Bobadilla \regarding the moh\ — Vagabonds, which of ye 
will serve this turn ? 

Vagabo7ids — Not we. 

Others — Nor we. 

Others — We are too nice by much. 

Bobadilla [asking arotmd] — Who here is creditor most 
to this man ? 

Espiiioza — I. 

Bobadilla — Thy dues be paid thee, tenfold, Espinoza, 
Pick but the irons up, and lay them on. — 
Officer of the guard, if he resist — 

Columbus [in part arising as the irons are bound on] — 
Resist — these fetters — I ? Who sent them me ? 
My sovereigns. Precious honors ! dear rewards ! 
Resist them ? oh ! so close I cling to them. 
That from this time not any thing shall part us ! 
AVhere I shall go, they follow ; where I rest, 
Above my couch they linger ; when I pray, 
About the crucifix their links be wreathed ; 
When I depart, they sleep within my grave ; 
And when we rise together at the last, 
Before my sovereigns I shall hold up these — 
Their dumb remembrancers of gratitude. * 

Scene XI. The same ; Villejo, 7vith a grmrd. 

Villejo [with concern] — What sight is this? Columbus 

— and in chains ? 
Bobadilla — He goes with you to Spain. Convey him 

hence. 
Villejo — No poet-fabled sorrow like to this. 

[Sadly approaching Coltmibus. 



84 Cohimbits. 

I would 1 saw your excellency better. 
Ballester — He hears you not ; he hath been some time 

sunken. 
Villejo \as before] — I beg you, rouse yourself and go 

with me. 
Columbus \ivith deep deJecfto?i\ — Is it so soon out with 

me ? on arrest, 
So soon the execution — unconfessed ? 

Ballester — It is Villejo. He is friendly to you. 
Villejo [offering support] — I pray you, favor me a little 

step. 
Columbus — Villejo — whither are you leading me ? 
Villejo — To the ship, your excellency, to embark. 
Columbus [quickly] — Embark ? — Villejo — do you speak 

the truth ? 
Villejo — By the soul of your excellency, it is true. 
Columbus [motioning] — Let Ballester — pray you — good 

Miguel — 
[He accepts the support of Villejo, and lea?ii?ig partly 

upon /ii?n and partly upon Ballester , is led slowly 

away^ in the direction of the port. 



ACT V. 

THE queen's APARTxMENTS IN THE ALHAMBRA. 

The decoration exhibits a restoration of the Hall of the 
Two Sisters. 

Scene I. — Isabella, seated j near her the Marchioness of 
Moya, with a letter. 

Isabella — Dear Moya, read again ; your thoughts escape 
you. 

Marchioness — Madam, 't is so ; I cannot alter it; \reads^ 
^' On this, I held it but as loyal duty 
To send in chains this arrant malefactor — " 

Isabella \Jeaning forward'] — That Bobadilla writes? 

Marchioness — Madam, he writes it. 

Isabella Sj-ises] — Reason is overthrown ! Did I not beg, 
Almost to shunning justice : " Spare Columbus, 
And turn the law against his adversaries " ? 
Is this the echo of a dream I had ? 

Marchioness — Madam, the words were spoken ; many 
heard them. 

Isabella — Of those misguided men, whom, every hour, 
I hold more knavish, stands no syllable ; 
Only, in fetters, comes the worthiest. 

Marchioness — Dear queen, to snatch some sweetness 
from this gall — {^Supposed voice without. 



86 Columbus. 

Isabella — What distance-smothered tumult — hear'st 

thou, Moya ? 
Marchioness \listening\ — 'T is as the hum of people, 

heard but vaguely. 

Scene II. — The same ; a Groom. 

Groom \to the q2ieeri\ — Madam, I come — 

Isabella — Thine errand until later. 
What cries are those that rise beyond our palace ? 

Groom — Madam, there ran a rumor through Granada 
The Genoese, Columbus, the great seaman, 
Was in the streets by order of the crown 
And was in chains. The people clamored at it. 

Isabella [.r///;/^]— Clamored ! ay, well they might. And 
had not they, 
The stolidest paving-block had found a voice. 
[ To the Marchioness with deep mortificatio}i\ O Moya, let 

me not, by bidding cease 
This infamy, confess that it hath been. 
Do quickly what thou may'st to have him — freed. 

Gr 00711 — The fetters of the admiral are loosed. 

Isabella [with a deep breath'] — Those at my heart drop 
from it. 

Marchioness [to the groom] — At whose bidding ? 

Groom — My lord grand cardinal, in state procession, 
Meeting the admiral with his mean attendants, 
Stayed, and his princely hand took off the irons — 

Isabella — Generous Mendoza — priest of truest unction! 

Groom — And further, Madam, having set his guest 
Beside him in his palanquin of state, 
Escorted him to lodgings next his own. 



Columbus, %"] 

Isabella \starting\ — Columbus is at hand — In the Al- 
hambra ? 

Groom — A very worthy gentleman with him, 
Villejo, his ship's governor, bade me say 
The admiral would cast himself before you. 

Isabella [greatly excited ; to the groomj — Oh, bid him 
haste — nay let him tarry. [To the Marchioness 
Moya, 

How can it be that I, so firm of purpose, 
Grow wavering as a girl ? How can I meet him ? 
His slightest word would make my lips grow pale. 
And oh, his silence, that were shame o'er all ! 

Marchioness — Strive, Madam, only to be Isabel, 
Whose love can ill deny her admiral. 

Isabella — When I went wrong, another erred with me ; 
Let my accomplice second me in bearing. 
\To the grooni\ The admiral have admittance at his 

pleasure ; 
Worthy Villejo, if he list, as well ; 
But first seek out your master, and apprise him 
The queen attends him on important topics. 

[ The groom goes. 

Scene III. — The same. Without groom. 

Isabella — Moya, I never dreaded audience thus. 
Marchioness — Madam, doubt not your sufferings are 
for good ; 
The noblest nature that can swerve from right 
Redeems its aberration through its pain. 
Isabella [pacing the room with agitation^^ — I cannot rec- 
oncile to any reason 



88 Cohimbtis. 

That such a thing should light on such a man. 

Why, Moya, if I should assert weak flesh 

Worthy of saintly honors, it were his ; — 

And just this man, they send — [she stays herself upon the 

Marchioness, iveepifig] — I break upon it ! 
Marchioness — Madam, the king ! Be pacified ; this 

harm 
Is but forerunner to a greater right. 

Scene IV. — The same. Ferdinand. 

Ferdinand [to the qiieeri\ — Madam, your message found 
me, I am here. 

Isabella — Dear husband, that is well ; much else is ill. 
[She looks about her^ Well the dumb lineaments upon 

these walls 
Received not from their draughtsmen human shape ; 
They had cried out ! 'T is but a day, my liege, 
Since through these fairy chambers flitted kings. 
From the far east they drew their origin, 
In their own clime not innocent, and here 
Staining their gilded trellises with life. 
We, that expelled them, swore, for their misrule, 
To set up Christian virtue. Christian faith. — 
My lord, those royal shades — could they return 
And see our deeds, would call on their false gods 
To visit on us a shame beyond their worst. 

Ferdinand — The fancy of your highness wanders wide. 

Isabella — The lives they violated were of foes ; 
We spread our court show over prostrate friends — 
Erect our trophies upon benefactors. 

Ferdinajid — Now I surmise to what the invective tends. 



Columhis, 89 

Isabella — Our street boys saw Columbus — handicuffed. 

Ferdinand — We know it, — and regret it should have 
been. 
However that great person may have erred, 
We would not lay on him more than his due. 

Isabella — His due, in any sense, were punishment ? 

Ferdinand — Grave misdemeanors are alleged against 
him — 

Isabella [bitterly^ — Alleged ! 

Ferdi7iand — Madam, and doubtless proven ; 
Upon fair inquiry, we see him captive. 

Scene V. — The same. Young Diego Columbus ; 
Donna Juanna della Torre. 

Diego \jvith loud outcry!] — Papa 's no traitor, sir. Here 's 
Donna Aya, 
She has the letter. Miguel Ballester 
Was he that brought it. 'T is to Donna Aya — 
Oh, hear it, sir, and know that he 's no traitor. 

Ferdinand [^gravely] — The admiral has written? Let 
him come 
That brought the letter. Written Donna Aya ? 

Donna Juanna [zvith much agitation] — Ay, that he has, 
at sea, in great affliction ; 
With chains upon his limbs, a cask his desk ; 
The admiral has written Donna Aya — 
She cannot read the letter. Take it, queen. 
Isabella [eagerly opening the letter] — What writes the best 
of friends that ever suffered ? 
[She reads] " Tyrant to illness and infirmities, 
I stood upon the eve of explorations 



90 Columbus, 

Whereby more splendid worlds had been attained. 
Even at which point, it pleased their highnesses 
To send me a successor. Unaccused 
I was arrested ; without form of trial 

I was forejudged and thrown in '\her voice falters ; 

she passes the letter to the king\ — read, my lord. 
Ferdtnand\7-eads\ — '* And, without form of trial thrown 
in irons." \^ Pauses. 

Indeed, my friends, these are but sorry tidings. 

Isabella — I have no voice. Pray, husband, read the 

letter. 
Ftrdinand \_reads\ — '' For my offences' sake before my 
Maker, 
I bear with resignation these reverses. 
As tending my dear sovereigns and their weal. 
My heart acquits me. Not in secret thought 
Have I maligned against them, toiled or purposed 
Save for their own well-being, more than mine." 

Marchioness [to Isabella^ — That is the man, my queen, 
that spoke to us ; 
Seas have swept over him ; he is unchanged. 

Ferdinand — His words and service carry weight together 
Isabella \%varmly\ — Oh, say his wrongs weigh heavier 

than all ! 
Diego [glee/ulli^—'T is Miguel Ballester ! 'T is Miguel 
— see ! 

Scene VI, — The same ; Ballester. 

Ferdinand [^regarding Ballester'] — Thou look'st like 

truth. 
Ballester — Sire, say like crustiness. 



Columbus, 9 1 

Ferdinand — Our Spanish wines grow racier for their 
crust ; 
Thy truth may do so. Hath thy master sinned ? 

Ballester — Sire, thrice over. First, that when men found 
This sky-encompassed world too spacious far, 
He set them on to widen it. Furthermore, 
That, drawing back the curtain of the deep, 
Within the golden cradle rocked to slumber, 
He saw a smiling infant. Last and gravest. 
In having kicked as doth the wasp-stung ox. 

Ferdinand — Were not his followers of one purpose with 
him ? 

Ballester — Before the dial's shadow shall advance 
Your grace's eye shall answer. You will find 
The ptarmigan in winter, when she dons 
Her snow-white plumes, not changed more to the view 
From her dark livery than is my master. 
Look well at him, my liege, and know he bears 
The withering blight of insubordination. 

Ferdinand — Yet some were here who showed otherwise : 
Devout Bernardo Boyle, the Benedictine ; 
Francesco Roldan, whom you made alcalde ; 
Pedro de Marguerite, of sworn honor ; 
Alonzo de Ojeda, first in fame. 

Marchioness — My gracious king, but suffer me the 
question. 
At whose behest was Bobadilla sent ? 

Ferdinand — His sponsor was the Bishop of Badajos. 

Marchioness [s?niling\ — Was not Fonseca hostile to 
Columbus ? 

Ferdinand — His grudge against the admiral was ap- 
parent. 



92 Columbus, 

Marchioness \zvith archness'] — By which incited, he tests 
furtively 
Alonzo de Ojeda, more than most, 
I fear, a wild-fire of dissentiousness. 

Ballester [with applause] — Wild-fire to camp and fleet 

— that was Ojeda. 
Marchioness [as de/o re] —Having through his first agent 
roused the storm, 
Our Jove grasps next at thunderbolts to smite 
The reeling ship — from which sprang Bobadilla. 
Isabella — Oh, name him not. My nerves are as the 
aspen. 

Marchioness — My king, my queen, trust me, 't will so 

appear. 
Isabella [pensively] — Then I shall lose Ojeda, whom I 

hoped from ; 
[7(? the king] Nay, you, as well, my liege, must miss 

Fonseca. 
Ferdinand — Fonseca and Columbus, admiral, bishop ; 
I weigh them both — the churchman's scale flies upward. 
Ballester [with joy] — Thanks, thanks ; my master's 

honor shines again ! 
Groom [announcing] — His Excellency myLord Admiral. 

Scene VII. — The same. Columbus, pale attd worn, con- 
ducted by ViLLEjo ; a 7nurmur of compassion salutes his 
appearance. He reaches the presence of the sovereigns, 
and endeavors to kneel. The queen prevents him, takes 
his hand, and holds it, for an instant, speechless, then : 

Isabella — Columbus — as but yesterday it seems 
You went from us with parting salutation. 
The fire that knows not age burned through your years, 



Columbus. 93 

Making you youthful. Great deeds toiled in you — 
Great promise, great assurance, dropped from you. 
Our hearts went with you. You have failed in nothing ; 
There is no lack in you. [Faltering] 'T was given 

none, 
So closely upon benefits like yours, 
To dream of this return — of this requital, 

Columbus [be ?i ding over the queen s hand^ which he still 
holds] — I am as prone as any man that lives, 
Either to weakness or to passionateness. 
When I was dispossessed of my high station 
Even by benefactors — when I learned. 
Madam, it was your bidding, I was then 
Both weak and passionate. I stormed aloud. 
I wept in privacy. I gnawed my heart. 
No dregs of that are longer left in me ; 
A price beyond compare hath made me whole. 
Where I had but the knee at my queen's footstool, 
And held, to meet her gaze, my captive hands. 
Upon their dint of gyves glanced from her cheek 
A tear of Isabel's beyond her jewels. 

Ferdinand — Columbus, you have been accused, as we 
Believe, not justly. 'T is the doom of kings 
To bound their sovereignty by no horizon, 
Their presence by straight walls. The nigher oft 
Passes, though full of faultiness, for true ; 
The innocence at distance for deceitful. 
Let this, considered, be of weight with you. 

Columbus [with a deep reverence] — I am not here to 
breathe reproach of any, 
But, briefly, sire, as my strength may serve, 
To touch a point or two. Shall I have hearing ? 



94 Columbus, 

Ferdinand — 'T were hard Columbus sought that much 
in vain. 

Columbus \Jie supports himself upon the shoulders of Vil- 
lejoy and speaks, at first, with hesitatiofi] — I stand in 
beggary before your grace ; 
My titles, my estates, are stripped from me. 

Ferdinand — Receive them as they were, and means be- 
side 
To make them greater. In your writing here, 
You pledge discovery of more glorious worlds. 
Take treasure, men of service, ships ; pursue 
Your noble sending. Speed yet further Christ 
On speech, arts, letters, sciences of Spain. 

CoUwibus — Sire, when I was in my government. 
Fevers preyed on me to delirium. 
Of that since borne I breathe not. Whatsoe'er 
Heaven yet intend me, I am done with worlds — 
Columbus hath but o?ie yet to discover. 

Isabella — Friend, you are weak as yet, like one whom 
wreck 
Still lashes shoreward. From our love, henceforth 
Ne'er to be overcast, win hope and vigor. 

Columbus — Madam, I am your debtor. If, for realms 
Ampler than, yet, the sanguine have conjectured. 
You grudge not some few roods for burial. 
So much I beg for. Aught beyond were idle. 

Ferdinand — Your titles — your estates ? 

Columbus — I lay them off. 

Ferdinand — You put them from you ? 

Columbus — To what end assume them ? 
They were a weight to me when I was soundest. 
In present weakness not to be endured. 



Cohimbiis. 95 

Onerous duties — I cannot discharge them ; 

Sumptuous disbursements — I cannot dispense them. 

There was a time I wearied less in them — 

That time is over. With a willingness 

That went not to their wearing, I renounce them. 

Ferdinand \jvitJi relief^ — 'T is magnanimity. There 
are about us, 
Many expert in law and feudal usage, 
That, for a subject, found your rights too splendid. 
We promised restitution, and doubt not 
Had kept our word ; but, since you yield them back, 
'T is gracious of you 

Columbus \(julckly\ — Sire — not one least atom ! 
Sire — not so much as, tested weight for weight 
iVgainst the whitest of these hairs, shall turn it ! 
[ With graviiy\ Sire, my dignities are not air merely — 
They are very gist and pith of honor, 
They testify what manner of man I was. 
I was no dreamer — the world called me so ; 
I was no madman — many styled me rabid. 
These only speak for me. They are my vouchers 
That I was serviceable to church and state, 
And that your highnesses esteemed me so. 
I shall not render back — no, not a scruple ; 
Sire, upon my conscience I dare not. 
I was not apprehended. For my person, 
I say, these functions prosper no end more. 

Isabella \ioith warmtJi\ — Columbus, friend, there are 
about us some, 
Not deep, I fear, in feudal usages. 
That ne'er could find your offices, though vast. 
Beyond, or full, your due. Say upon whom — 



96 Cohimbus. 

Putting that by 't were freely yours to hold, 
Your revenues and honors shall devolve. 

Columbus Sjvith niiicJi earnestness^ — Madam, the youth- 
ful fortunes of our sons 
Are blent in friendship. Let it be so still. 
When yours shall wear the crown, let mine succeed 
To my estates and titles undiminished. 
And since, in course of nature, it is like 
I shall precede you \_he pauses\ let my love for him 
Live in your motherly kindness to my boy. 
Instruct him — as God, madam, and your grace 
Favored his father — to disburse his wealth 
As truest consorts with nobility : 
In generous-hearted hospitalities ; 
In offices of faith to pious ends ; 
In houses for the sick ; in largesses 
For honorable deeds, and for the poor. 

Isabella [sitppressing her emotio'n\ — It shall be so. And 
when it is not so, 

The realm of Isabel is not of earth 

The heir whom her heart crowned sleeps with his 
mother. 

Columbus {after a long pause, recovering himself with 
effort'] — My brothers, both so helpful, are in bonds. 

Ferdinand — They shall have freedom, honor, like 
yourself. 

Colunibus — Your graces, pardon. I am still but feeble. 
I would my people, both on sea and shore, 
Might have their dues. They were of greater service 
Than I could hitherto make good to them. 

Isabella — Our purse is theirs ; they shall have justice 
— bounty. 



Columbus. 97 

Ferdinand [quickly and rising] — Columbus — what ! — is 
it not well with you ? 

Isabella \Jiasiening to the side of Columbus, ivho glides 
heavily from the arms of his sttpporter] — He droops ! 
Villejo, 't is not dangerous ? 

Villejo [during his reply both the sovereigns assist in sup- 
porting Columbus, ivho is unconscious. All present gather 
around, expressing by their attitude the tenderest concern^ — 
Often upon our vessel, as I saw*, 
Oft, too, as I Avas told, upon his island, 
A fit would seize him. He would weep and groan, 
Beating the breast ; anon revive again, 
And be himself. So seems it now to be ; 
Dangerous I judge not — nay, I think it passes. 

Isabella [with Joy'] — See — his lips move again ! 

Ferdinand — His light returns. 

Isabella [tenderly] — Columbus, breathe it, friend — would 
you aught else ? 

Columbus [dreamily] — That was a noble land — across 
the ocean ; 
While it was mine, I strove to make it happy. 
I speak no word in malice, I was balked. 
I loved the dear land then, I love it now. 
[Feebly to the king] Sire, Bobadilla is — is not the man — 

Ferdinand [in a lota tone] — To-night his staff is broken. 

Columbus [with effort] — A last weight — I bear it heavily. 

Isabella — Our love receive it. 

Columbus — I vowed a quest — the Holy Sepulchre — 
So many thousand lances to be raised. 
I cannot fee the shoeing of my feet — 
My dinner at the ordinary inn. 
The Holy Sepulchre ! must I not smile ? 



98 Columbics, 

Isabella — Friend, be of cheer. What can be, will. Al- 
though 
This quest may fail — yet you lived gloriously. 

Columbus [rising, and with a voice of restored firmness\ — 
Yes ! did I not ? I think God singled me 
To such a calling as scarce son of mother. 
I have fulfilled it. I have kept the faith.— 

\^He patises, rests upon the sovereigns, then continues in a 
deeper tone. 
Madam — O my dear liege — I had a vision — 
'T was heaven that favored me, when men were perverts — 
The terzerole, the mutinous pike at me — 
To send that splendor. Look, where it returns ! 

\^As Columbus pronounces the last words, the music of the 
Second Act is heard. The farther end of the apart- 
ment is occupied by a mist, which, dispersing, gives 
place to the following apparition : 
A foreground, at first alone visible, of gently undulating 
heights, embosoms in its midst a fertile and irrigated plain. 
Beyond are seen the spires of a populous city. Upon the 
declivities of the hills recline, in fourfold groupi?tg, the 
allegorical impersonations of the States composing the 
American Union. They are distinguished by garland 
blazonry, and surrounded by the attributes of war and peace, 
industry, commerce, arts. 

The mists, further risijig, disclose, above the plain, but 
more distant, a rugged and inaccessible ?nountain peak. The 
precipices, below, are lost in cloud. Upon its extreme sum- 
mit, having in its rear the glory of the rising sun, rests the 
Vision of the Second Act. The Genius has laid aside 
her half military vestments. She is robed in radiant white, 
is wreathed with laureL and bears in her hand the olive. 



Columhis, 99 

Accosting Columbus with a smile ^ she indicates to him her 
daughters in the plain below. 

As the highest regions become clear of mist^ they exhibit^ 
above and to each side of the mountain peak, a luminous em- 
pyrean^ within which ^ in as many groupings, are recogfiized, 
but tvith a certain vagueness, fonns and features of Colo- 
nial, Revolutionary, and National Celebrity ; until 
from each of the three, emerge, with sudden vividness, the 
glorious images of COLUMBUS, WASHINGTON, a^id 
LINCOLN. 

As the Genius, again smiling, beckons upward, the scene 
closes. 

THE end. 



COLUMBUS; OR, A HERO OF THE NEW WORLD. 



Testimonials. 



From Hon. Jas. Russell Lowell, Elmwood, loth July, 1S77. — 
Dear Sir : When I received your MS. last summer I was in wretched 
health, and was the longer in reading it, though unprinted matter 
always goes slowly with me, because it tries my eyes more. I was 
really interested in it. . . . My impression is that your poem 
had very decided merit, and would readily find a publisher, 
If I could have seen you face to face, we could soon have come to 
an understanding about it, and if you knew how many MSS. are 
sent to me I am sure you would forgive my seeming neglect of you. 
The reading I honestly did ; it was the writing for which the pro- 
pitious moment seemed never to come. I reciprocate all your kindly 
remembrances, and remain, very sincerely yours, J. R. Lowell. 

[In a personal interview at Madrid, in November of the same 
year. Professor Lowell renewed the expression of his friendly in- 
terest, and accepted the dedication of the work.] 

From Edwin Booth, Esq., Chicago, April 230', 1876. — D. S. 
Preston, Esq., Dear Sir : My long silence may have induced you to 
l)elieve that I had obeyed your instruction regarding your MS. by 
destroying it "out of hand," but I have preserved it — "safely 
stowed " — at the bottom of a trunk through all my wanderings, south 
and west. I must apologize for the seeming incivility which per- 
mitted your very flattering letter to remain so long unanswered. 
Constant travel from place to place, with too brief delays to permit the 
unpacking of all my trunks, is my only excuse for the fault, which I 
hasten now to remedy. Being now a mere "strolling player," I 
cannot go beyond the limit of my repertory, and T find so little lei- 

lOI 



I02 Testimonials. 

sure for necessary rest that I shrink from tlie bare idea of adding to 
the already long list of characters I am compelled to personate for 
the sake of my depleted treasury. But though I cannot use your 
play, it is much too valuable to be shelved ; it should be produced at 
"Booth's Theatre " (of which I, unfortunately, have no control), 
where it would have scenic and other advantages, such as no other 
theatre in this country is capable of giving. 'T is said that actors are 
the worst judges in the world of plays in MS. ; we are frequently de- 
lighted by the reading of those that are damned at l^irth by the critics, 
and from which the public turns in disapproval. Therefore, I dare 
not pronounce a verdict, but will give you my very private opinion of 
"Columbus." It is extremely interesting, and with careful actors 
and appropriate scenic accessories it cannot fail of success. 
It requires, however, the aid of a ivell-drilled company, and, as I 
have said, scenery, costume, music, numerous accessories, etc., etc. 
This, I know, is very unsatisfactory after so long a ' ' waiting for the 
verdict " ; but I hope you will acquit me of all suspicion of having 
slighted you when I tell you that I have declined to read at least 
half a dozen MSS. since the receipt of yours, and have read yours 
twice, I wish I could be of service to you in bringing " Columbus " 
before the public ; but having no theatre I am powerless. Truly 
yours, Edwin Booth. 

From Frank R. Sanborn, Esq. {Staff of Springfield Republican). 
— [i\. private reading of the play was held at the house of Mr. San- 
born, in Concord, in April, 187S. The following extracts are from a 
letter, to the author, of that date] : " Mr. Sanford likes the play even 
better on perusal than on hearing selections. He is especially 
pleased with the second act, which he thinks might be very effective 
upon the stage." 

From William Winter, Esq. {Staff of Nezv York Tribtme). — 
The play offers opportunity for picturesque acting. . . . The 
hero presents an image of dignity and pathetic endurance. . . 
Your success would be a pleasure to me. 

From L. R. Shewell, Esq. {Manager of Boston Theatre). — I 
offer you my respectful admiration. 

From Boston Daily Advertiser, May 2d., 1878 {Communi- 
cated by Captain Nathan Appleton, of Boston, at request of his 
brother, Mr. Thomas G. Appleton). — Mr. Daniel S. Preston , . . 



WIO 6 5 



Testimon ials. i o 3 

who has been residing for some years in England, has recently writ- 
ten an historical play entitled " Columbus." Mr. Edwin Booth 
speaks of it in high terms, and expresses the hope that it can be 
brought out at the theatre in New York named after him, which, 
from its size and arrangements, is admirably adapted for a piece of 
the kind. . . , Professor Lowell, our Minister at Madrid, has 
also seen the manuscript, and has expressed himself well pleased with 
it. 

The author avails himself, finally, of the permission of the late 
Professor LONGFELLOW to mention his revered name as among the 
uumlier of his well-wishers. 










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